From atop her
rocky perch, the
Sphinx
watches
as up Oedipus’
rugged road they
come
Lion, Kraken
Chimaera, Dragon
Cerberus, Centaur
Typhon and Bull
She cleans her paws,
sharpens her claws
and whets the
riddles
by which she is
fed
Until she spies the
Gorgon
Medousa
the once beautiful,
wearing the men
she has
maimed
as snakes
upon her head
Oh, Sister?
calls the Sphinx
Have you not yet tired of your games?
Are all the men not yet the same?
Come, sit beside me on my sunny rock,
that I may share what I have gleaned
from all my ages as a fiend.
But Medousa only
laughs
and shaking out
her serpent
mane, slithers on,
stoning
all
who cross her
path
And the
Sphinx
her black eyes
wet
shakes her
head
and curls back up
silently
to await the
dead
c.sdmrogers 2008
