J is for Jupitre

Avert your eyes when looking upon me, mortal! 

Or such is what I would have said when I ruled the heavens through the power of my lightning bolt. 

Now my power is gone. Others command it, although my throne sits empty. I wander through various worlds, a mere shadow of the deity I once was, consoling myself with pretty maidens and youths. 

My wife would have chastised me and them. It was my lechery which lost me my godhood, she never fails to remind me. Insufferable woman! She still drives me mad, more than any other can for all my varied dalliances. 

In truth, fleeting passion cannot fill the emptiness inside. 

I yearn to find my wife, to lose myself in her arms. I dread our reunion, for she can hold a grudge like no other creature. Unable to avenge herself upon me, she’s vented her spite upon the objects of my affection and their children. 

Now at last I am vulnerable, once more the wounded bird she cradled to her breast. Only this time, she can crush me if she wills it. 

If I know my Juno, she’ll not only will it. She’ll be slavering for it, the chance to bring me to my knees. 

I cannot be cowed! I will not!

I wonder what it would be like, to kneel at her feet for a change? I shudder at the thought, not entirely from fear. 

I continue to flee, hiding in the shadows. The malice men left behind in the darkness seeps into me, creating a new me, a self that repulses me yet feels true. 

I no longer have the power of a god. I can no longer recall what having that power felt like. 

I’d give anything to have that strength return, no matter what shape it took. No matter what shape it might force me to take.