PANDORA'S BOX"

BY PAUL PERRO

Artist Kinuko Y. Craft

According to old Greek legends

There once was a time when

There were no women in the world,

There were only men.

That is, until the mighty Zeus

Went to see Hephaestus one day,

And ordered him to make

A woman out of clay.

They named the woman Pandora

And breathed her full of life,

Then gave her to a young man named

Epimetheus, as his wife.

But Zeus was not really being nice,

He had a wicked plan.

His enemy Prometheus

Was the brother of the young man.

Zeus gave them a box with a key,

Then he sternly decreed

That they must never look inside.

The young couple agreed.

Now Zeus thought Epimetheus,

Despite this conversation,

Would be unable to withstand

The terrible temptation.

In fact it was Pandora who

Gave in to curiosity.

She quietly crept, as her husband slept,

And from him, took the key.

The box held many nasty things,

Unknown to Pandora,

And all of them could fly, which she

Discovered to her horror.

She unlocked and opened the box

And the first to escape was rage,

Followed by pain, then jealousy,

Disappointment, greed and old age.

Out flew measles, mumps, rubella,

Bubonic plague, chicken pox,

Leprosy, hepatitus B,

All escaped from Pandora's box.

Pandora was shocked and appalled,

What on earth had she done?

Soon all of the things had escaped,

...all, that is, except one.

As she peered into the box,

She slowly became aware,

A little thing called "hope"

Was still trapped in there.

Pandora sighed and let it go.

She knew, if there was hope,

Then no matter what else happened,

The human race could cope.