Us as Everything

Us as Lovers

I stare at him through stalactite ceilings, 

sparkling like the night sky’s constellations. 

From Orion to Aries, his allure is galactic; 

The Great Achilles, my very own Achilles’ Heel. 

Figs pass from one rough hand to another, 

sticky juice seeping through fingertips 

onto the tip of my tongue.

Bare bodies covered in his saccharine;

My sugar sweet hero, mine all mine. 

Even buried six feet under – I know him.

The weight of his thighs, the thrum in his veins.

I would know him at the end of the world

where Trojan Steel meets Achean,

and where Ursa Major and Ursa Minor live happily ever after. 

Us as Companions 

He watches over my shoulder as I sharpen my sword, 

“Poly Philtatos”; my most beloved companion. 

By my side from princedom to war,

to afterlife. 

When Hades took Patroclus from me

the eternal flame took hold of my soul.

Smoke billowing through veins that once

rushed with his friendship and mainstay;

tainted by Hector’s final blow.

And when I felt my spear pierce the Trojan prince’s armor,

I felt my purpose dissipate from my very being.

His royal body dragged through the blood-soaked dirt.

Maybe revenge runs in Achean blood.

Damn the Gods, Damn their Moira,

‘Take me too’ I shouted to the sky. 

My very horses wept for him as I smiled, 

Pain shooting up from my heel; 

Reunited at last. 

Us as Blood

Sprouted from sister saplings

our roots were inevitably intertwined.

Through red dirt, our branches spread 

until our trees were chopped down.

Bloody stumps where heroes once stood.

They say Blood is thicker than Water,

but if the Sea of Nymphs remained uncontested,

our blood would still be coursing

through Achean bloodlines, future lords and ladies 

now left with a hollow destiny.

Family; strong as Hephaestian forging

and yet fragile as the favor of the Gods,

picking sides…

swaying the odds…

and guiding Hector’s arrow into my cousin's heart.