“Mystical Knight…” Odilon Redon, 1869, WikiArt.
Part 4: Kydilla-Coronis Encountered
“Tomb door opening riddle we present,”
Began stone Lumasi to Cosimia and her
Mother. “Twins we are, same but different,
Door hinges and bolts, left-right, masculine
And feminine, still water pool revealed.
What are we?” Unexpected by Lumasi, sky-
Observing gods, Cosimia asked, “May I
Approach my lords?” Living form, bearded
Man, wingéd statue nodded to kneeling
Cosimia, forehead touching rain-wet stone.
Ruddy face she embraced, fingers through
Beard caressed, gentle touches soothing
Ground-pawing bull, feathered wings,
One hybrid beast, then the other.
“The world is invisible, my lord,” whispered
Cosimia to door right-standing Lamassu.
“Night sky is invisible, neither seen nor heard,”
Words breathed to ear of left-standing bearded
Man, enticing, exciting both beasts, muscles
Rippling, wings sky-reaching, yearning love’s
Favours, actions same but different. In studied
Moments, Cosimia surmised: “You are mirror
Images, reflections of each other. Crestfallen,
Man-beasts felt outwitted, god-betrayed, tomb
Door hold released, unbolted from within.
Thus, Cosimia and her mother were one step
Closer, finding Coronis, sister-twin.
Priestess appearing elder woman greeted
Cosimia and Iliona at tomb antechamber,
Illuminated by single-windowed sunbeams,
Words first uttered, “I am flaming flesh,
Smoke rising, dead infant girl accompanied,
Two decades passed, she is still with me.
My name is Kydilla-Coronis, souls vine-
Entwined for decades, my daughter-self
She has become.” Face-searching silence.
“Who has been outwitted?” Kydilla asked,
More possessive than motherly, except
Iliona quoted Aethra, “In honour of
Goddess Hestia and hearth, nothing is
Removed by tomb doors.”
“Prose,” Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1879, WikiArt.
“Answers are found within, copper-plate
Inscribed,” advised Cosimia, unaffected
By Kydilla or her claims. Lo! Within tomb,
Bodies found were not dead, but deep-
Sleeping since turn of time, as Cosimia’s
Visions revealed: living gods, in elder years,
Laid to rest [not dead]: prophets, healers,
Seers, through Cosimia, would speak again,
Earth teaching, divine voices turn-taking.
“O! Mother, world is invisible even to those
God-blessed, for we see within limits of
Deific gifts. Alas! Upon surf-edge sands
We stand, peering across great gulf-divide.”
Hearing this, tomb trembled, eyes opened,
Immortal Charioteers awakened!
For clarification, Kydilla was dead elder village woman with whom girl-
infant Coronis was cremated. See Part 2, third stanza: “recollections of
infant consumed by funeral-pyre flames with village elder woman,
pungent smoke, twisted tendrils rising, memories, blood, ashes admixed.”
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply