Gaia Vindicata

Jay Arns

’Tis said that Gaia groaned beneath man’s weight, and Zeus in pity planned for her relief. He sought to fan the flames of inborn hate, the conflagration passing all belief. In this affray, man’s number would decrease as Greeks and Trojans bore the will of Zeus, and neither man nor land would be at peace ’til souls from broken bodies were set loose. The heroes fell for Helen on that field, enforcing Sparta’s king’s connubial right; these men were burned while o’er them thunder pealed as each was dealt his share of endless night. And on both sides so many died at length the Titans’ mother felt her former strength.