A Prayer To Nyx

there, hiding at the edge of the world, pulling the safety of darkness around yourself, there you sit so guarded in reverence that even zeus himself would shrink from outraging your rushing senses
there you cloak yourself in peace
do you recall the endless prayers I heaped upon you in those dead hours in those hours of death when neither of your sons were willing to take me, not Sleep nor Death were able to carry the
weight of me, leaving me instead in your embrace, their torch of darkness burning not for me,
the sweet poppies not giving me relief
prayers and pleas, when all my hopes lay with your coat of armour, how protected you seemed,
how protective
and yet, and yet, even though the whispers rang out into your domain, you stayed as silent as
every God I have ever prayed to
now

Now
I do not come to you in prayer, Nyx
I do not come to you with a plea, not silent, not whispered, not screamed
I come to you now, awaiting at your bronze gate, I come to you with a question
 

your eyes see through the deepest pit of dark, do they not? Your ears can hear the faintest call in the blackest night, can they not?
did you see me? did you hear?
 

there in the darkness, there, there in the deepest night, when the moon turned away in horror, and the night sky veiled itself in mist and even the North Star gasped in disgust... you saw did you not?
 

did you not see what went on, under the covers of your cloak?

did you not hear my desperate cries?
and those of my sisters?
 

were you not moved, not once, to lift your coat and let the light of your daughter shine in, let it be seen, let it be seen what happened?
because you saw, did you not?

You
you, who came from chaos at the start of the world, egg-bearer, and wind-mother, and you who dare to conceive in love, you who do not allow for any violation of your hallowed self
 

ah
but I think that you do, Nyx
I think that you do
I think that you can feel it
do you feel all that is felt when darkness holds the world? all that is felt by those who are hiding, and those who plead in the deepest hours of your reign, when Sleep escapes us and
Death does not take us
and does it hurt you?
I wonder now, my sister, if that is why you stay silent
and hidden away at the edge of the world
 

because you feel all that we felt
all our sisters
Medusa and Antiope and Europa and Dorota and Jo and Susie and little Lynn and I wonder now, Nyx, did you spread your gentle cloak on us not to hide what you saw but to give us comfort?
and perhaps, night after night, as the renewed cries and pleas and prayers pierce your ears, is that what you try to do?
for you are not blind in the darkness and such is your power that even zeus would shrink before you - you would not sit idle, would you?
 

because you see what goes on at night, do you not?


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