The jealousy of Hera

The most powerful, the most desired
my  name is Hera, Bride of the Gods
A woman wreathed in gold
as jealous as I am beautiful
and my beauty is rampant and divine

By cunning, craft and seduction
I claim my wedded victory, my matriomonial prize
the fidelity and adoration of Zeus
it is sacred, it is mine
I will protect it with all the might of heaven

You will fear me, you will honour me
and you will fall in despair and thrall at my feet

My husband, he will stray
he has a weakness for foolish beauty
he is restless and easily charmed

You, foolish girl
we are women
I am your Queen
you must be wiser than that, girl
to betray your kind and kin
to cross the bride of heaven
to steal what she protects fiercely

Do you feel your fingers pricking?
does your skin begin to itch?
look into the waters, does your beautiful face stare back
or the face of a grotesque bearded beast?
those hands that you caressed my husband with
are they soft and supple?
or mangled claws?
your voice, seductive siren,
can you still sing sweetly,
or does a growl whisper from your lips?

I will blind you, foolish girl
I will scratch out your eyes
I will silence you, beautiful siren
I will constrict your chest

Do you hear the lions roaring
the snakes snapping at your pretty heels?

I will come for you
with all the might of heaven
you will pay for your beauty
you will pay for making him stray
I will come for you with roth and rankour
a fury unbound

Gaity will erode and weep
for nothing endures as long as my rage
when the foolish beauty of the world fades
my husband and I will remain

time circles around us
these great cities of Argos evolve
and we remain implacable
at the centre of all of the universe
lies our marriage bed
and it is forged by my fidelity