Where Have the Goddesses Gone

A poem with both historical and personal inspirations. The first thing that inspired me to write about this topic was the death of polytheism. I'd always known that Christianity and Islam had pushed out the ancient Roman, Norse, and Egyptian gods, but didn't really see how it had happened until I took "World History to 1500" this past semester. It was then that I learned that monotheistic societies, especially Dar Al Islam, or the abode of Islam, forced pagans (non Christians and Jews) to convert to Islam in conquered territories. As of today, India, and to a lesser extent China, are the world's only large surviving polytheistic societies. This is partly due to the fact that they were able to accommodate both monotheism and their ancient customs, and also because those who conquered China and India in the past were never able to force conversion upon the locals. When I visited the British museum earlier this summer, I saw statues of ancient Greek gods that had been desecrated by having their faces or heads broken off. Christianity in particular had a convert or die policy, and the worship of anyone other than the Christian god was seen as wicked. I imagine though, that forced conversion was seen as cruel by those who still believed in the ancient polytheistic religions. That's why I chose the point of view of someone who still believed in his native deities, and didn't want to convert to a new religion that he viewed as cruel and uncompassionate.

The personal event that helped inspire this poem was when a friend of mine got rejected by a girl named Isis. He told me that Isis was the first girl he'd ever loved, and that no longer having her in his life was a huge blow to him. Isis was also the name of the ancient Egyptian goddess of motherhood, magic, and fertility, and I imagined what it was like for an Egyptian who was forced to abandon his love for her and turn his heart to God/Allah instead. I decided that tieing the two subjects together might make for a good poem, but I didn't want to make it about my friend's rejection. I instead decided to channel those feelings of loss into a poem about forced conversion, and the pain and fear that must've accompanied it. The goddess described in the poem is intended to be Isis, but it could also be any similar goddess from any extinct polytheistic religion.

And I'd also like to say that I have nothing against monotheism or religion in general. I have great respect for religion and the strength and willpower it can give people. I'm not religious myself, but I can only imagine how terrible it must have been to have your religion wiped from the face of the earth by people who believe their own is the only correct one. I intended for this piece to demonstrate the value of all religions and the respect I have for the things they do for people, regardless of whether their deities or beliefs are still observed or not.

P.S. The beginnings of the first two verses were inspired by an old Blink 182 song called I Miss You. it's a love song, but I feel like the beginning of it is rather applicable to someone who's missing a goddess they used to pray to. I also thought that the melody was sad and gut-wrenching enough to go along with this poem, and I had this song in my mind when writing it. Here's a link to the song

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