For millennia we mortals feared them
with their capricious motives
their endless terrible wrath
carried by plague and twisted tempests
trampling cities like grapes for the wine
of their endless divine revelry.
We trembled before their might
and their infinite cruelty, for what can
be said more of the gods beyond that
indeed they do delight in tragedies!
But I know a truth greater than the
thunder of Zeus or the fires of Hell,
that we poets are greater than gods
for whom they are but playthings
in our narratives.
Homer and Virgil understood
what too many do not, that weavers
of words outrank divinities by
countless magnitudes for this reason alone:
only we can dream of things beyond them!
BIO: Dan Hettmannsperger III was rocketed to earth from the doomed planet Oklahoma. Landing in California as an infant he was raised by mall clerks and discovered that in the light of a yellow sun he had mysterious writing powers which he chose to employ for the purpose of fighting evil and seducing women. He is also a part-time deity and runs THE 37TH REALM OF EXISTENCE on Facebook and on Pinterest. His loves include philosophy, Star Trek, Italian food and Japanese pornography.