The Two Cassandras

by Russell Hemmell

History lies. 

So do myths. 

People? They can’t,

they don’t know enough 

to manipulate the truth. 

 -I don’t, either. 

Her eyes go blank when the visions come,

but she can’t foresee the future, 

and I can just make sense of the past. 

What I say is my opinion only, 

not of the elusive deities that inhabit this temple. 

Warriors bow, 

warriors leave, 

and go back to battle. 

Lies. Lies. 

Otherwise, how has nobody ever heard of Taraxandra, 

and what she has done for the Trojans? 

Hidden behind the mad Cassandra, 

I lie on the ground, 

my breast equally untouched, 

sweat on my face.

* * * * *

"The Two Cassandras" first appeared in Visions with Voices, July 2017.

Russell Hemmell is a statistician and social scientist from the U.K, passionate about astrophysics and speculative fiction. Recent Fiction in Argot Magazine, The Grievous Angel, New Myths, and others.