Pythia

by Vera Kewes Salter

I am the Pythia who still lives.

I survived the Delphi earthquake

and the clouds of volcanic fumes.

I warned Dr. Li Wenliang

of the virus in December and

he was taken to the Wuhan police

station and forced to sign a denial.

After his death I alerted others

about this pandemic.

What's the point of being an oracle

if you can't augur the future.

I insisted everyone look

at the coming wave and not focus

on the present. In January

I cautioned the authorities

in the United States to be prepared

when the horror hit. I was not

surprised when their President

ignored me and only scientists

sought my knowledge. Nero had

tried to destroy me in anger.

I foretell that a second wave will

come in the fall. I will return

to the decaying python of Delphi.

* * * * *

"Pythia" was first published in Dissident Voice (5/24/20).

Vera Kewes Salter writes at the Hudson Valley Writers' Center in New York. Her most recent publications are in Right Hand Pointing, Writers Circle 2, and Red Eft Review. She grew up in the United Kingdom in a family of refugees and married and raised a family in the US. She holds a Ph.D in sociology and is a retired health care administrator and activist.