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Notes About The Poem

In the original Greek myth, Prometheus is a Titan (enemy of the Olympian gods). Goethe and Byron wrote poems along those lines. In this sonnet, Prometheus is an Olympian. Did I innovate? No, I simply forgot. But I think the story is more interesting as a choice to rebel from within, rather than as an act against an enemy.

Prometheus

Then shall I say I could no other do?
That fate beyond divine compelled my act?
That like a bird on wires my mission flew?
But that's a game of words, and not of fact.
Full well I knew how best to calm my mind,
From huddled suffering to avert my eyes;
To on Olympus joy and music find;
To drink ambrosia where but pleasure lies.
But one must do one's math across the all,
To give one's scope of thought a greater room;
And even as a god, my part was small:
'Twas choice, and not a fate, that sealed my doom.
And if the cost has been both life and soul,
The gift has value far above its toll.

conflictcouragefatefiregodsonnet

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