Pandora Should Not Have Tampered

And the moon sits high on her throne in the sky, a perfect semicircle. It's like the Cheshire Cat's grin, though not half so charming; rather there is a wickedness about it, as though evil lurks in the corners of its upturned mouth, and in the face that keeps disappearing and reappearing like smoke. We all thought that he would bring protection, and comfort; we never saw that he harboured an entourage of the disciples of hell. So too does the moon, for while she sits gazing upon the realm that is hers throughout the night, and all those below glance at her, mesmerised by her enchanting beauty, she too brings with her darkness. We forget that there is more to her than it seems, because we are held captive by her radiance; the reality is, she brings forth the night, the darkness, and under her watchful eye, all that is bad is released upon the world, as it has been since the time that Pandora opened the box she should never have touched.

All that was left in that tiny ornate box, was that long overlooked emotion, Hope. It has since made its home in the heart of every being, nestled among the valves, and the ventricles, and the arteries, biding its time until it is needed. It is not invoked through spells and magic as other emotions may be, but appears, out of the dark, some timid faery child, begging you to follow, with the promise of leading you to a better place. It tempts you with promises of home, and laughter and love, with images of sunshine, and birds and flowers. And you follow, unwittingly, because you think, in the lonely corners at the back of your mind, that perhaps this time the faery child is not misleading you, that perhaps this time, the grass really is greener on the other side.
It's all a lie.

There is no grass, there is no sunshine; there are no birds, there is no laugher; there is no love, there are no flowers. Above all, it is not home, it is not the place you were looking for. You begin to think that perhaps that realm of Avalon, where the Once and Future King was long ago taken, which you had always yearned to find, which the traitor Hope had always promised you, has indeed vanished into the mists forevermore. And you begin to think that perhaps this world, and all in it have become too tainted to behold such a heavenly sight.
That we do not deserve it.

Why else would salvation, and the chance of reconciliation be held before you, and then cruelly snatched away when you are on the brink of attaining it? You understand the torture of that wretched Tantalus, who starving and thirsty, was tempted by grapes, and by the crystal waters of the stream running around him as he stood in it, but when he tried to reach for the grapes, they shrunk from him, and when he tried to scoop up the water, it receeded. There was never a torture method so well devised as this one.

No, the faery child Hope shall lead you astray once again, and the shadow of Avalon melt back into the mists. So you look at the moon once more, and its wicked Cheshire Cat grin, then turn back to the work set out for you by that self same queen of the sky; you carry out your evil deeds, thrust Hope back from your door, and leave it crying in the cold, turning your back to see the wounds you have carved out into they who you were meant to reconcile with. You stare at your hands and the work they have done, and you grin, that wicked Cheshire grin, for you know, tonight, you caused more pain than was wont, and relished the feel of it on your hands, while inside, you swept the last humane pieces of yourself into the dying fire, and wiped the tears that you sturdily refused to let fall, hiding from the one you hurt, how sorry you were to have done it. And how afraid you were that perhaps this time, Hope was right; that there really was something better ahead. That it could have been attainable, that in fact, it had been within your very grasp, but in your arrogance, you allowed it to fly. Only this time, it did not return to you, and the opportunity was gone.
And because of what you've done, you irrevocably deserve to have lost it.