Glorious Exploits

by Ferdia Lennon

Hunger, what an odd thing it is. Is the source of all love a lacking? Is that what creates emotion? Not a presence but an absence. Do you need to be emptied to be filled?

Why had the gods let Oedipus kill his da and marry his ma, and blind himself? Why let that happen when it was clear he was a good man? Could they not stop it? Were the gods weak? Did they not care? I cried and didn’t understand, but you know what? I remembered that Oedipus was good. That even though he’d done and suffered all those horrible things, he was still good; whether the gods cared didn’t matter. And I remember as a kid feeling that this was awfully sad and beautiful. There was dignity even in the worst that could happen under this sky, and I felt less alone.

I have the feeling that the future and the past aren’t separate at all, just different snatches of a single song, always sung, given consequence when heard.