Fluvius Dividit

Eleanor Colligan

The dull thrum
of the River Styx,
with its violent
apathy,
more known for its
desperate lust
for human lovers,
for human bones,
riddled with memories,

To read the years,
the so many years
that stack up
like tally marks scratched onto a prison wall,
like the growing number
of rediscovered playthings,
when joy was inescapable
and fluttered in our palms,
beating like a dying butterfly.

The River seeks them
like
a lullaby

When asked about the inspiration for this piece, Eleanor said, “‘Fluvius Dividit,’ which is Latin for ‘the river divides’ is, in a sense, me paying a homage to all the years I spent studying Latin & Greco-Roman mythology, and me putting my own spin on a little part of what I learned.”