Formed in a womb
of random chaos,
I emerged
naked, restless and alone.
Perpetual motion
no place for me to lie,
I parted water from the sky.
In ceaseless dance
on the sea’s swell and rise
I pirouetted by and by.
A whirling dervish
I travelled south:
caught behind me
a rush of wind
to temper my aloneness
and join in my creations.
I swirled and twirled
reached up so high,
plucked the North Wind
from the sky.
My hands all encompassing, caressing so,
I drew him to my breast.
Gyrating together
wild on wild,
my heart swelled
my fevered blood grew chilled.
Within my ribs
North Wind took solid shape.
Out he flew
Great Ophion Serpent,
no longer wind but snake.
Cold now
so frosty cold,
on I danced.
Ever wilder, ever free
until Ophion
was consumed with me.
I felt his warmth
as now, he encircled me.
My blood in passion flamed
as he writhed around my limbs:
propelled his seed
inside of me.
As new life fluttered
I morphed into a feathered dove,
nestled, brooding on foaming waves.
There I waited in pregnant pause
until the Universal Egg
sprang forth from me.
At my command
Ophion coiled seven times
around the Universal Egg.
In Ophion’s fierce embrace
the Universal Egg cracked wide,
poured out our children
to the skies.
Sun, Moon, Planets,Stars
remained up there
while down sank
Mountains, Rivers, Earth,
Plants,Herbs and mighty Trees
and every kind of beast.
In our Mount Olympus home
it seemed our love
was strong and true.
But in foreshadowing
of things to be
Ophion declared opinion wrong:
claimed creation his alone.
I struck a blow for female kind:
whacked his head
smashed his teeth
sent him reeling far below.
The bowels of earth
reached out and cradled him.
Great Ophion Serpent
banished forever
to the dark abyss.
But I remember
that chaos long ago
as I danced upon the foaming sea.
When Ophion encircled me
and his love was all to me
with heartache yet to come.
Margaret Torr is a retired children’s outreach worker. She has been published in various anthologies and has a poem on The Polesworth Trail in Warwickshire.
Image Credit: “Digitales Kunstwerk eines Eies im Weltraum” by Marco Verch via ccnull.de, CC-BY 2.0
