#hekabe

"Never again, never again shall I look on the light of the sun" - Euripides' Hekabe (transl. Anne Carson)

When the Greeks sail to Troy to retrieve Helen, wife of Menelaos, and lay waste to the city of Troy, the greek army is prevented from sailing on in Aulis. Artemis has been angered and demands a blood sacrifice in exchange for the winds that will carry the ships to the shores of Ilium.

So Agamemnon, chief commander of the army of Hellas, sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia at the altar of the goddess. Her death in exchange for eternal glory.

After the sacking of Troy, the remnants of the victorious greek army make ready to sail for home. But Achilles' vengeful ghost halts the winds, demanding proper sacrifice at his grave. Achilles demands blood in exchange for the winds that will carry the ships to the shores of Hellas.

So Odysseus and Agamemnon choose Polyxena, the youngest daughter of Priam and Hekabe, a princess of Troy. Her death in exchange for a homecoming worthy of the victors of Troy.

A little mythologically inspired poetry for you today. I hope you like it.

TEXT:

HECUBA

The first howl had not left her lips when she whetted her claws on blind Polymestor, clever Odysseus, proud Agamemnon. Greeks and Thracians fell like trees in a gale. Surf licked their bodies. If she had had thumbs to hold torches, she would have finished Hector's work and set the ships ablaze.

The man who killed my father said / “Go and wait for me in bed” / You know the face that launched the ships / But do you know the slave with trembling lips? — Woman of the War (Briseis’ song)

LIKE HELLO??

And the rivers run red with our humanity — The War Lullaby (Achilles on the Battlefield)

Our son, our son, our son / Will never feel your light / He has your hair and eyes / May he also have your might — My Love (Andromache mourns Hector)

Blood will never make us whole / But I’ll fight until its rivers flow / And soak the ground that made you a ghost / And kill the man who took your soul / I’ve got grief as deep as the love that we shared / I’ve got pain as dark as the night / When you fell in the dust, I fell with you — Wrong From Right (Achilles Learns of Patroclus’ Death)

My love, my love, my love / Don’t you be afraid / I’ll be home before you know / Everything will be okay / My son, my son, my son / I hate to say goodbye / I’ll be back when the sun goes down / To sing you a lullaby — The Goodbye Lullaby (Hector Says Goodbye to His Family)

This is how it feels / I am a golden field of grain / Cut down by a farmer ‘til nothing remains / I am a field of grain — This is How It Feels (Chryseis’ Song)

Desired by many but loved by few / […] / In my heart I will bury shame / Like in my face I carry fame / When the war is done will I be the same / Did I leave or was I taken? / Does it really matter to the graves of / All the souls and the bodies they’ve forsaken / If I left or I was taken — Taken (Helen’s song)

So I’ll bathe your son’s body / Until it’s clean of dirt and sand / And with the tears you’ve left behind here / I’ll wash the grief off of my hands — Grief of My Hands (Achilles to Priam)

[Text in image: “Hekabe- As ivy to oak, so shall I cling to her. / Odysseus- Think again. / Hekabe- I will not let her go.” End text.]