While walking through the woods one day,
Tiresias saw two serpents locked in the act of love.
For sport, he stuck his walking stick between them
and for his intrusion, his sex was changed to female.
He lived that way for seven years,
then one day he saw the same two snakes
going at it as before, and decided to strike again;
back her sex was changed to him.
One night Jove, in a mood to tease Juno
after—let’s be candid—a few glasses of wine,
said “You women get more out of love than men.
We do the work, while you have all the fun.”
Juno said no, and they decided to settle the dispute
by asking Tiresias, who alone knew both points of view.
Speaking truthfully, and not reckoning the consequences,
he sided with Jove. Juno put on a show of outrage,
more than she had a right to feel, and damned Tiresias
to eternal blindness for his effrontery.
I’ve thought about this tale for years, searching for a moral;
or a meaning. The only one I can come up with is this:
If you think that love’s a chore, keep it to yourself;
it’s indoor work with no heavy lifting, and
when you’re done you can take a nap.
If you can’t keep your mouth shut, don’t ask
your buddy to back you up, the poor sap.
Oh, and one more thing you should
never do: say “It was good for me,
but I know it was better for you.”
