he would, he scrambled after you. The view
of Athens all around you clogged his mind
with raw inventions as you stepped behind
the foolish prodigy and gently gripped
his hips and pushed him off. You said he slipped.
No one could find his corpse. Athena, who
values inventors, rescued him. He grew
feathers in freefall and his intellect
migrated to his claws and beak; he pecked
the ground all day, afraid to nest in trees
or fly above them. Look, the indices
of your betrayal linger. Watch her hide
her eggs in hedges, always terrified
of heights and knowing what she can’t recall,
that your resentment made her forebear fall.