We are still Mythical We are the new Ancients.

from Brand New Ancients

by Kate Tempest

In the old days, the myths were the stories, we used to explain ourselves.

But how can we explain the way we hate ourselves?

The things we’ve made ourselves into,

the way we break ourselves in two,

the way we overcomplicate ourselves?

But, we are still mythical.

We are still permanently trapped somewhere between the heroic

and the pitiful.

We are still Godly,
that is what has made us so monstrous.
It just feels like we’ve forgotten that we are much more than the sum   of the things that belong to us.

Every single person has a purpose in them burning.
Look again. Allow yourself to see them even yourself.

Millions of characters
Each with their own epic narratives
Singing, ‘it’s hard to be an angel until you’ve been a demon’.

We are perfect because of our imperfections,
We must stay hopeful, We must be patient;

When they excavate the modern day
They’ll find us, The Brand New Ancients.

All that we have here. Is all that we’ve always had.

We have jealousy, tenderness, curses and gifts.

But the plight of a people who have forgotten their myths
and imagine that somehow, now is all that there is. –

That, is a sorry plight, all isolation and worry,

but the life in your veins it is Godly, heroic.

You were born for greatness.
Believe it, know it –take it from the tears of the poets.

there’s always been heroes,
there’s always been villains,
the stakes may have changed
but really there’s no difference.

there’s always been greed
and heartbreak and ambition.
jealousy, love, trespass and contrition,

we’re the same beings that began,
still living, in all of our fury and foulness and friction.
Everyday odysseys. Dreams and decisions.

The stories are there if you listen.

The stories are here.

The stories are you
and your fear and your hope is as old
as the language of smoke,
the language of blood,
the language of languishing love,

the Gods are all here.
Because the Gods are in us.