New Poetry: After Jocasta

After Jocasta

A poem by Joshua Gibbs

Betrayal revealed terminal illness soberly

diagnosed infidelities illuminated

accidentally pious superstitions doubted

for a lifetime then confirmed

suddenly in blood

on the doorstep

such horrors never fail to draw

this lament from our lips:

I should have known

But this is not the judgment

of the soul

for the soul responds:

Oh

but you did know