My Love Letter to Divine Femininity

by Nicole Del Rio

PART 1 – PANDORA’S BOX

 

Pandora stared. She stared at the box. The overwhelming allure
of it. How it mocked her.

Such beauty she shall never see
The beauty that the world would never see.
If only Zeus had given her a hideous box…

        If he had given her an archaic, ugly box
   Then maybe just maybe she wouldn’t be so tempted
Tempted to discover its secrets.

Zeus’ warning made Pandora feel daunted by the box
His strong hypocrisy
Both the box and she were beautiful gifts
Yes, Zeus was tricking them!

Tricking her to keep its wonderful secrets hidden
Hidden from mortals
Hidden from the world
Such selfishness

The question was what
What was Zeus hiding
The secrets of Aphrodite’s great beauty?
The secrets of the god’s power?

Or maybe he was trying to hide a secret like fire.
Hidden from everyone but him. Yes! It was him hogging a
wonderful secret!

It was almost as if the box was speaking to Pandora
Her husband did not hear the calls
It drove her mad
All day and night
The calls grew and grew

Until she couldn’t resist it anymore.

Opening the box slightly wouldn’t do anything
A small peephole
A crevice
Harmless it should be
It would shut the voices of the box
innocents crying for help, the gods had cheated them.

Pandora could not continue this.
This hellish torture

And so, she opened it.
She gave into temptation
Like Eve did to the snake
She did the deed
And regretted it.

Mocking laughter greeted her
The gluttonous and slothful sins
Plagues and other evils
Pandora wept at how foolish she was
And clung on to the bit of hope that was inside of the box.

PART II – LOCK THE BOX

 

“an evil thing for men as the price of fire.”
I grant his every desire
Yet I am evil?

Do tell me what my crime was?
I opened a box
Everyone has done that.
He opened her box
But did not like mine.

Mine was perfect and delicate but it wasn’t enough.
I opened his box
There was hope inside
But the hope is gone.

It’s too late to close it now that everything is gone.
I wish I could slam it shut
But it just came out
Like a flood washes a civilization away
But no amount of water can save me.

“Well done Pandora” they say “you did your duty”
I opened the infamous box and await forgiveness
My mistake plagues me as sin plagues Earth
I thought those were gifts-
The gown
The golden necklaces
The flowery garland

I thought those were virtues
The elegance
The longing
The voice

I thought I was to be loved not won

Prized possession Pandora
Poor pitiful Pandora
Stupid wretched Pandora

Even if you put a lock on the box
No one will forget it was opened.

PART III – WOMANHOOD

 

Women are wicked
Eve and Pandora plunged the Earth into sin
Women birth and that is their redeeming quality
However there is more
There is more divinity that exists in femininity
More to the tales told throughout the eons
The secret is that Sun is a woman
This is a tale of Sun and Moon.

Sun provides
Sun is life.
Sun has fire.
Sun is bold.
Sun is loved because Sun
shines, shines, shines
Sun’s light has birthed Moon
Moon is seen because of Sun
Sun cares for Moon and Earth
Sun can birth life
As everything is dependent on Sun’s light
Sun is a mother,
Sun cares for her children,
Sun is a mother,
Sun is a woman.

And so, though the tale is short, I remember that there is a Sun, Moon,
Earth, and Ocean in us all.
I remember that Pandora was not wicked
And womanhood is a gift.
And so, pray tell was another woman wrongly accused?
Millions more than you may recall,
Such as Ophelia and her great fall-

Ophelia drowned and everyone frowned
Everyone frowned because Ophelia had drowned
Everyone saw Ophelia as she laid in her grave
Yet blind to her when she was lost in a cave
The cave of insanity was where Ophelia walked
She walked, she talked but most importantly,
She screamed.
She screamed for help.
She screamed her love.
She screamed for Hamlet.
She screamed and screamed yet still was not seen,
Ophelia was always drowning
Drowning in her screams
Ophelia, such beauty was found in your sorrow
A melody to everyone’s ears
Ophelia, deaf the world was to you
Until you drowned,
Then suddenly were found,
Everyone’s eyes opened
And your screams were suddenly heard,
But once you were seen and heard
Ophelia, you had drowned.

Every time a baby yells, there is a mother to calm.
Every time a woman succeeds, there is someone
trying to bring her down.
Woman can build their own wax wings,
And pray to avoid the sun.
Though Icarus won’t have to stand trial for his fall.

I remember that Pandora was not wicked
And womanhood is a gift.

Winners now announced

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