Page 101 of Hekate: The Witch (Goddesses of the Underworld #1)

Tales From the Mortal World

I would sit in awe and listen

to ghosts tell the tales

of their lives.

They spoke of sickness but

also of joy.

Fear but also of tenderness.

I once met a man

who travelled the high seas

and fell in love with a siren.

He spoke of the ocean

with such love even though

its waters were what killed him.

But the most heartbreaking stories

came from children

taken long before their time.

One small child told me

that all he got was two thousand

sunrises before he lost his breath.

So this was how they measured

their lives, in the span of sunrises

and moonsets.

There were tales of parents

who lost their children,

and lovers who lost each other.

But a thread ran through all,

and that thread was named love.

When asked if they would

ever want to live again

they all said they would

if only to know love once more.

The Asphodel Fields

and their eternity of spirits

were my education on mortals

but most of all

on love.