Wednesday 10 June 2020


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 PointingWriters 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.  

1 comment:

  1. "I foretell that a second wave will
    come in the fall."

    ReplyDelete