Nehalennia

Written by Jenna Kay Duxbury

I guess I’m not the goddess
you were expecting.
The true meaning of my
name has been lost,
and I carry a bushel of apples
and a strange cloak,
rather than a burning torch
or a book of sacred texts.

We can’t all be Isis, you know.

Am I so disappointing?

I prayed for you, after all.

Everybody thinks that the gods
are always listening,
weighing each petition
that ascends to heaven
and intervening or ignoring
as we choose.

That’s true, but we say prayers too.

Long ago, when your family
crossed the North Sea
to trade, to fish, to start a new life,
they prayed to me
for protection
for guidance
for abundance.
I kept them safe
because I could,
so I did.

I may not be the goddess
you hoped to find.
Yet here we both are.