Like the woman who was once queen
until her husband and his lover poisoned her,
but she had died leaving a curse over them.
Or the man who escaped wolves
by singing them to slumber
only to step on a sleeping adder.
Death truly was a great equalizer.
For where else could you find a king
and a fisherman playing cards together?
Asphodel taught me that the Gods
may be eternal but mortals
have the very best of stories.
Tales From the Mortal World
I would sit in awe and listen
to ghosts tell the tales
of their lives.
They spoke of sickness but
also of joy.
Fear but also of tenderness.
I once met a man
who travelled the high seas
and fell in love with a siren.
He spoke of the ocean
with such love even though
its waters were what killed him.
But the most heartbreaking stories
came from children
taken long before their time.
One small child told me
that all he got was two thousand
