You’ve made your journey
Your time has come
It is time to walk with Hekate
Along a winding path
Be not afraid
Be not unwilling
For the light of her torches shows you the way
Down you go, along that path
Where no mortal man may walk
To a shining beacon ahead
Shaped like a beautiful youth
You’re on a new journey
Your time is here
To look upon his face
That gentle guide of souls
Son of heavenly Zeus
Who will take by the hand
To that murky world below
Down toward a river
Where memory and forgetfulness flow
And the wailing of the dead
Are like the sounds of the breeze
You're destination awaits
A land of endings and darkness
By the light of Hermes guided
And the lantern of Charon met
Where the river leads away
From the sunlit land of the living
And you can choose to leave it all behind
Over you go and on your way
Across the River Styx
Whose black waters are holy
To all who swear by them
You are ever nearer
The darkness deepens
The cold is strong
There are no thunderstorms here
Where even the light of the lightning
Would be welcomed like a long lost lover
And those not awakened to reality will cry
The boat touches the shore
Your time has come
To walk forth into Hades
Where you will be judged
You are at the gates
Bejeweled and beautiful
Yet difficult to see
Where Charon watches
One head forward, one head back
The third ever turning to and fro
That all souls may enter but none leave
Face them, the three
Rhadamanthus, Minos, and Aecus
And before the Keres to confess your life
That it be measured and convicted
The good, the bad, the indifference
You speak it all to them
Your joy and pleasure
Your shame and pain
All made clear to you and them
Until at last you are judged
And sent upon your way
To the crossroads go
There you have been sent
A place sacred to Hekate
Where your road awaited
A life of good meant for paradise
A life of evil meant for torment
Or had you lived a balanced life?
One that led you to Asphodel
To toil and earn your way
Back to the land of the living
And another chance to make it right
Go then to Asphodel
Work and be made better
Work and be made strong
And await your time to be born again
Soon, though to you it was long in coming
You are called upon to walk once more
To the River Lethe for a drink
And your every thought and deed to forget
So that you may be carried once more
Into the light of the sun
Pure and innocent and a joy to your mother
Art: Joachim Patinir (circa 1480 –1524) - Public Domain
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