Chapter Text
Oh, you-
the self-styled modern Ovid
Exiled to your ivory tower
draped behind intellect and cool
Cool like the water of the Adriatic
That engulfed my ankles in the glowing purple of the afternoon.
I always wondered why
Your name was so taboo on the tongues
Of people who hovered in the sphere of your glory.
Imagine, jealousy flaring, and women
Vying for your attention, your love
(How embarrassing, when you think about it)
Silly girl, foolish girl
If you are Ovid, what am I?
Dear, flirtatious Julia Augusta, exiled so cruely.
I’ll let you in on this fact:
Julia never sculpted him into a god.
Half-deity, half-father,
I was just a girl who loved too hard and too easily,
Too wounded.
Dear Ovid, I shall depart.
Your mind and your soul
Shall never again sully mine.
My heart is laid open, beating, coursing, raw.
I leave you with these words, words of a scorned Roman maid:
Te amo.
Odi te.
Vale.