Two Men in Love in Death
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
“Hector dies, and when at last in Book XXIV his corpse is recovered, it is laid out and Andromache holds Hector’s head in her lap, as Achilles had held Patroclus’.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 112
Achilles cradles his Patroclus’ head
In highest, deepest love and deepest death.
The hero thought he loved him in his bed,
His hero’s hardness hunched with gasping breath,
But how he loved him, just how much he knew
That, had escaped him, well beyond his heart,
Until he held that precious hair and drew
Those sacred curls between his fingers, tart
With grief. When Hector’s body was retrieved,
His wife found only love, a cuddled love
There in her lap, well hatred as she grieved,
Her hatred giving scabs and blood a shove
Away from hair. Her hate and love were one.
She dared not dwell upon their unharmed son.