Goddess

"Once upon a time there was a magnet.
In its close neighborhood lived some steel fillings.
One day two or three little fillings felt a sudden desire to go and visit the magnet...
Other fillings nearby overheard their conversation... Still others joined them,
Till at last all the fillings began to discuss the matter, And more and more their vague desire grew into an impulse...
Meanwhile, without their noticing it,
They had been involuntarily moving nearer to the magnet,
Which lay there quite still,
Apparently taking no heed of them.
And so they went on discussing,
All the time insensibly drawing nearer to their neighbor;
And the more they talked, the more they felt the impulse growing stronger,
Till the more impatient ones declared that they would go that day,
Whatever the rest did...
And while they talked, they moved always nearer and nearer, Without realizing that they had moved.
Then, at last, the impatient ones prevailed, and, with one irresistible impulse, The whole body...
in one unanimous mass they swept along,
And in another moment were clinging fast to the magnet on every side.
*
Then the magnet smiled...
For the steel fillings had no doubt at all but that they were paying that visit of their own free will."

~Oscar Wild