Palas Athena Pays A Visit, A Poem
when she rose from the waves,
clear-eyed and betrayed by
silent stories
felt on the skin,
she brought no
heavy treasure robbed
from mud-crusted graves,
no expectations of
prizes hard-won but
never awarded.
she found such rewards too common
too rooted in earthy loam and the dark stuff
of hidden worm-paths to please
to appease
to offer significant compensation.
she fed on light, its mirror-strength
magnified her,
shimmering refraction
made her pure image,
a liquid Picasso caricature
in prismatic slices
intensely thin
invisible
unless
your eyes can touch and hear
the sea.
© robert cook
