Pressing hand on mouth, suppressing outcry,
gore-steeped child lying prone in her lap;
Aktaie has reached the point of collapse,
red-pressing seeped compresses to pale thigh.
'We cannot stave the unceasing bleeding,'
haughty daughter of Atlas*, informs.
'Where is the sun-ring, the one that transforms?
Magic not physic* is what we are needing.'
'Magic can sometimes be more foe than friend,'
Thetis - censoriously chastises.
'Perhaps, ring's power is flawed,' she surmises.
But another leaps in: 'So quick to defend -
the wily, ring-wielding Ampelios
how swiftly deposed is your spouse, Peleus*.'
*Atlas holds up the world on his shoulders, his daughter is Dione.
*physic = medical aid.
*Thetis married Peleus, their son was Achilles which explains her somewhat bitter reply as 'magic' failed to protect Achilles (i.e. unprotected heel) at Troy.
Peleus and Thetis' wedding: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/The_feast_of_the_gods_at_the_wedding_of_Peleus_and_Thetis.jpg