(no subject)
A pair of sonnets. Because the Iliad is eating my brain again. And I was wondering whether in a post-feminist age, Hector and Penthesilea could have beaten back the entire Greek army together.
Helen is the fairest, so they say,
But darkness follows in her path, a trail
Of slaughtered babies, mothers sold away
As weeping slaves, men slain to no avail
But you - when you ride with your maiden band
Clean light flows in your wake, sweet, pure and clear
And when a flight of arrows leaves your hand
None but the cruel and vicious need take fear
Great-hearted Queen, with fury blazing bright
What gazelle could best you in a race?
When your eyes flash, the sun hides from the light
And when you fight, you shame the cat for grace.
Oh sister of the moon, maid without peer
What fool on Helen looks when you are near?
You armed yourself that day, went out alone
A man against half-god, fair Troy's last chance
If fear you felt, to no one was it shown
As you stepped out into that deadly dance
Andromache could only sit and weep
As your blood spilled, a sacrifice too dear
Troy watched, encased in agony too deep
To keen the mourning cry or loose a bitter tear
Brave Hector, reborn to a newer land
Take arms again, but not to lose your life
Nor stand alone, if you but give your hand
To fighting queen, not helpless weeping wife.
I'll stand at your back through each ordeal
And our shared strength shall find Achilles' heel.
Helen is the fairest, so they say,
But darkness follows in her path, a trail
Of slaughtered babies, mothers sold away
As weeping slaves, men slain to no avail
But you - when you ride with your maiden band
Clean light flows in your wake, sweet, pure and clear
And when a flight of arrows leaves your hand
None but the cruel and vicious need take fear
Great-hearted Queen, with fury blazing bright
What gazelle could best you in a race?
When your eyes flash, the sun hides from the light
And when you fight, you shame the cat for grace.
Oh sister of the moon, maid without peer
What fool on Helen looks when you are near?
You armed yourself that day, went out alone
A man against half-god, fair Troy's last chance
If fear you felt, to no one was it shown
As you stepped out into that deadly dance
Andromache could only sit and weep
As your blood spilled, a sacrifice too dear
Troy watched, encased in agony too deep
To keen the mourning cry or loose a bitter tear
Brave Hector, reborn to a newer land
Take arms again, but not to lose your life
Nor stand alone, if you but give your hand
To fighting queen, not helpless weeping wife.
I'll stand at your back through each ordeal
And our shared strength shall find Achilles' heel.