What Cassandra Read
Poem - by Mary Soon Lee
1. Fire
Fortune foreshadowed in flame,
smoke, heat-cracked bones--
how Apollo burned for her,
the fury of his infatuation.
2. Birds
Hawk, heron, eagle, dove,
Athena's diminutive owls--
envying their flight,
her own fate inescapable.
3. Pebbles
Implacable prophecy proclaimed
by composition, shape, shade,
the stones stern as Apollo
when she refused his touch.
4. Sound
Rustling of autumn leaves,
bronze chimes rung by the wind,
her words echoing in her ears,
telling truth no one trusted.
5. Water
Ripple, reflection, surface,
pattern, depth, stillness;
the path she must follow,
the path she must follow.