We left that land

                           when ground shook

despite our prayers. We lined

             baskets of bread and grain,

jugs of oil, wheat sheaves

                                          on the stepped east altar,

set out small clay figures, arms raised

to assure good crops, rain.

                                          When still soil rose like dust,

we came to the peak, bore lambs for sacrifice.

When lambs did not appease,

we slaughtered a sacred bull

presented it to the goddess,

sure the wine of such blood,

flowing below frescoes

                                      through furrows

                                                                  and into bronze vessels

would placate wrath.

                                 But when no offering sufficed,

when roadbeds cracked, when

foundations of our homes heaved, collapsed,

                               we called upon the priest to intercede

and in the chamber between west and east,

a ring of silver and iron

                                      on his sinistral hand,

pitiless out of fear, he

                             plunged a dagger

into a young warrior’s throat

then

          laid a boar’s head lance across

the stilled chest.

                       The altar shuddered.

                                                   Amphorae shattered.

West of the village,

                                 when earth shook

bones of the dead

                            exploded against tomb walls.

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Susan Roney-O’Brien lives in Princeton, MA, works with international students and young writers, curates a monthly poetry venue, and is part of 4 X 4, a group of visual artists and poets. She is the Summer Writing Series Coordinator for The Stanley Kunitz Boyhood Home. Her poetry has been published widely and translated into Braille and Mandarin and been nominated for seven Pushcart Prizes. Publications include two chapbooks: Farmwife, the winner of the William and Kingman Page Poetry Book Award, and Earth published by Cat Rock Press. WordTech published Legacy of the Last World in 2016. Aldrich Press, an imprint of Kelsay Books, published Bone Circle in December 2018. Kelsay Books will publish Thira, a new collection based on ancient Minoan culture, in March 2020.