Minotaur
Asterion minotaurus
My mother Pasiphaë satisfied
her unquenchable lust (damn Aphrodite),
copulated with a bull – a damned bull –
(Who does that?)
what am I to do with that image?
I was born a hideous monster, a slaveringly
insane half-man scaring the bejesus
out of everybody, before Daedalus
constructed a vast maze, a prison —
to ensure that my life was hell.
I ate people (so what). It was an age
of human sacrifice, loved those succulent
virgin girls and boys sacrificed to me.
What else would you have me do,
in that damnable ceaseless labyrinth
before Ariadne, with her stupid ball of twine,
lead the great immortal Theseus to the heart
of the matter? He snuck up on me —
speared me in the face — how was I
to know he was there? No one was ever there.
I have the final laugh because I live on. I do,
you’ll be relieved to know. I live on,
immortal as the beast in everyman. I am
the beast within you. I shall so remain
until the end of days.
