Asterius* by Katelyn Manning

How strange it must have been

for a calf-headed boy,

trading castle comforts

for an underground maze.

At what age was he left?

Was he boy or a babe

when last he saw the stars,

his glistening namesakes?

Did he think himself sick?

Or this a playful jest

when the maze doors heaved shut

and extinguished all flame?

How strange it must have been

for a calf-headed boy,

when his prison’s first guest

came to hunt, not to play.

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Katelyn Manning is an Irish writer and philosophy graduate whose work tackles socio-political issues through evocative use of classical and religious imagery. Her work has recently been published in ANARKISS magazine and Living With the Machine, a short story anthology tackling the issue of AI.