the castle was silent, Psyche
found herself truly alone, the
look of hurt on her beloved Eros
was etched into her mind

she was heartbroken, the weight
of her betrayal pressing down
upon her soul, the purity of the
nascent love turned to ash

in her desperation, she turned to
the gods, pleading for a second
chance to right this epic wrong,
yet the gods remained silent

Venus, however, was overjoyed to
see the suffering of this foul
mortal who dared rival her own
beauty, a pretender to divinity

days lost meaning, as Psyche
wept for her loss, word spread
to her family, and her sisters
felt pleased at the result

they whispered cruelly, of how
Psyche was always given all
that her geart desired, now was
the time for their happiness

the eldest sister scrambled up
onto the cliff, flinging herself
over the edge, expecting Zephyrus
to carry her over the sea

but Zephyrus did not lift her,
and she fell screaming, her body
dashed against the stones, her
offering found unworthy

the second sister scoffed, for
she believed onoy she was born
worthy of the love of a god, she
too fell to her death below

Venus laughed, the entire family
was deluded to think they could
be worthy of taking the heart
of one of the immortals

still Psyche pleaded for relief
from the pain of her lost love,
to be given a chance to prove her
own love to be true

and Venus, in her callous beauty,
devised a plan to truly make this
mortal pay for her beauty, thus
she came to Psyche on her isle

Psyche, unknowing the bitterness
in Venus, gave thanks to her for
answering her prayers, she begged her to let her see Eros

Venus let her weep then commanded
“my son shall not see you, the
one who let the seed of doubt
flourish in your heart

“he only asked that you love him
the way he loved you, with purity
and in return, he loved you the
same, took care of your needs

“all it took to betray his trust
was the words of your petty
sisters, and now look at you,
weeping here all alone”

Psyche wiped her eyes and stood,
determination gleaming in her
bottomless brown eyes, she asked
what she could do to make amends

for all her dislike, Venus was
mildly impressed with Psyche’s
will, yet as Apollo passed above
she grew jealous of her beauty

Venus thought to make Psyche pay, a series of tasks that would
break the most beautiful of all
mortals, and she smiled gently

“come with me then, foolish one,
i shall set a series of tasks,
if you can complete them, you
may once again see Eros”

Psyghe eagerly agreed, the spark
of hope blossomed in her chest,
she swallowed the sorrow and took the hand of the goddess of beauty