Assured of his many talents
Raised and beloved by muses
Using his voice as a shield of men
Already confident in his love’s devotion
Now acquainted with the pathway to hell—
Tread only for the sake of others
Just a few more steps until he’d won
How could such a man falter in faith
Certainly not from doubts in Eurydice
But maybe some in the demons left below
And what joy they would truly allow him
Maybe he couldn’t help but feel
The pull of the underworld calling him back
Now that it couldn’t be unseen
And it was that abyss he was looking for
As he gazed right through the pale
Fading light of Eurydice’s eyes
This love had triumphed over nature
But perhaps his own steps into the light
Became his sole focus and he forgot
The journey was made for partnership
Painstakingly climbing in tandem
Investing in the future with each step
Learning how to transport a soul
What was it all for if in the end
He was still alone with no one to blame
But his impulses that he valued higher
Than giving Eurydice time
To find her own light next to his
I worry what will become of him
Where he will wander and who he will meet
Whether he will keep his head
Without me there to hold him together
But Persephone chides me to remember
It was he who cast me back to hell
All the worse because of how far
We’d traveled to escape it
She says I was placed in the back
Because there was never a doubt
I would catch him each time he stumbled
Even if I wasn’t yet solid again myself
Down here I’m becoming something new
Or maybe I’m returning to what I once was
I could feel the change swallowing me
The second he turned around
Eurydice as she was can keep her Orpheus
Forever linked in earthly memory
I will embrace the life I’m finding in death
And bathe in the glow of a million souls
Not get lost in the shadow of one