So I recently learned it’s called
Pandora’s vase in Italian. Or, rather,
Il vaso di Pandora, although
if I keep including Italian here
then the English is going to start
to sound pretty shabby by comparison.
Il vaso is closer to the original, of course.
Pithos in Greek, one of those large
clay jars you sometimes see if, like me,
you think about the Ancient world
once or twice a week, just to keep up
with the stereotypes.
Erasmus changed it to pyxis
for no good reason, back before
he was the name for the happiest time
in a European’s life. Doesn’t box
sound more misogynistic?
Boxes are meant to stay closed:
why couldn’t she just keep a lid on it?
A vase is easier to understand: open
to the world and such a fragile thing.
Who could blame her if she decided
to go exploring, wanting
to be ready for the inevitable:
one glass too many, a slip of a wrist,
and the vase is gone, leaving
nothing but a puddle of hope
evaporating among the shards.
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