#spritext

knees and fingers blackened from dirt, i greet your emissaries as they scurry and squirm away from the light

ants and isopods, spiders and centipedes, worms and grubs, they are nurtured by you just as much as the deep-rooted plants

they are nourished by your black earth as surely as we are nourished by the things that grow from it

so i apologize to them for moving the leaf litter, and i look carefully for slow-moving critters before i dig my tools in

praise athena and hephaestus of skillful hands. praise you gods of hand-crafted art, of raw materials taking shape. praise you steadfast gods, who bring focus, who see each project to its end.

blooming aphrodite gave her blessing years ago, showed me that my heart could grow sweet flowers for another. she taught me how to tend that garden. she bound our hearts together with silken threads.

and then we were married, and Queen Hera laid her hand on those threads, and turned them golden. our vows wove those threads in to rope, and tied it firmly. our hearts and souls are tethered, locked in orbit with each other.

and it is glorious hera's blessing that adds new threads to these tethers. it is blooming hera who has taken stewardship of the garden in my heart. the flowers are long established, and always in bloom, and hera is with me during careful watering, and she sits with me to enjoy the sweet fragrance.

my heart's garden was first planted with laughter, and wonder, and affections freely offered and received. my heart's garden is fed by gratitude, and consideration, and comfort freely given and taken.

it is hera's love when we dance and weave around each other in the kitchen, synchronized. it is hera's love in every little favor, every 'would you please' and every 'thank you' and every 'of course baby, anything for you'.

strong-spirited Rhea, queen of queens, lover of the battle din, liar, savior, redeemer, first by birth, mother of gods and of mortals -orphic hymn 14, to rhea, trans. athanassakis