Odes of Strangers XXII

Bellerophon, you are accused.
You rest on your innocence.
Yet, know I do not speak in your favor
Kindly. I am not your surety.

For you ride Pegasus.
You've defeated Chimera.
You spy your enemies
And perhaps Stheneboea lied---
Yet perhaps she didn't.

I do not know which course
Yet though you are my mortal enemy,
I place myself in your shoes.
I would not want man to accuse me falsely;
Nor spread the infamous deeds of my youth.

However, know this---
If you ride to Olympus
If you soar above Ganymede
The gadfly shall sting your horse.

I do not judge you,
As is my Christian office.
I fend off the Sword of Stheneboea
Not for your sake, but for my own.
For, he who accuses you
I know not whether he is true.
For that ignorance,
I lay my aid not for any approval of your deeds.

Yet, what is unknown to me,
Ought to be unknown,
And I will not tolerate a talebearer or slanderer.
Yet, had you or had you not,
Let not your pride bring thee
To the status of a god.
For then I shall strike you down,
And if your arrogance is lifted up
To say, "I am completely innocent,
"Like God Himself!"
I shall slay you with the breath of fire from my mouth.