Afterthought Unbound

When [the gods] were about to bring [living creatures] to light, they gave Prometheus and Epimetheus the task of dealing out the appropriate attributes to them. Epimetheus begged Prometheus to let him do the dealing. “And when I have dealt,” he said, “you shall examine.”—Plato, Protagoras 320d

To love, and bear; to hope till Hope creates

From its own wreck the thing it contemplates.

—Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound

Truth to tell, I abhor an unbinding,

Yesterday’s pudding pretending as new.

Life rehearses an embarrassed reminding;

Dying concludes but a heads-up’s review.

My brother’s liver fed Caucasian raptors

Now even the buzzards spurn my own guts.

No use protesting the mitigating factors—

Sempiternal as ever, those ifs, ands, and buts.

Pandora rose from the soil to greet me

With gifts, and I cottoned to her lies.

Writing such lines to see what I'd see

(Teenage chicks pecking out my eyes!)

I judged the whole lot to be as dumb as could be

—Promethean fireflies. Damned disguise!

Note: Prometheus and Epimetheus, the ancient Greek names of the mythological twins alluded to here, are said to mean Forethought and Afterthought.

Monday, June 8, 2026