A VETERAN SPEAKS WITH ACHILLES AND HECTOR
 
 
Achilles,
I knew you
When I was young,
When the bullies
Pushed me, and
The strong ones,
The ones who could help,
Ignored me.
 
Achilles,
I envied you
When I was young.
I read your triumphs,
Immagined your
Fearless stance
And barbaric mien
As you gazed upon
Mangled piles of human meat,
Roped in Trojan blood.
 
Who will ignore
Achilles?
Not the Trojans.
Nor the strong and good son,
Hector.
Even the High-King Greek,
Agamemnon,
Reduced, before Achilles’ wrath,
To pleas and ploys
And still,
Achilles
Does not yield.
And the hero ran.
He who had taken armor,
Your armor,
From the good,
And loyal and noble
Patroclus,
The best part of you,
Achilles.
 
Hector,
Before your righteous rage,
And godless vengence,
He ran.
I noticed that,
When I was young.
Later, much later
After my spirit died,
But before it was
Reborn to the joys of
Life and the simple beauty
Of being human,
During the time
I dwelt in the Afterworld,
Achilles,
I knew you better,
Than I did
When I was young.
 
Achilles,
The stronger one,
The one who could help,
You ignored your friends
And left them to
A dark and bloody fate.
Achilles,
What of noble
Patrocus,
He who loved you so?
You gave his life in service
To your costly honor.
Who but you would
Quench his thirsty rage
With great draughts of
Red, Greek blood?
 
Achilles,
I know you well
In my middle years.
Even now, a dark part
Of my spirit envies you
And your Brutal power.
But, nor do I love you,
Achilles,
Heroic and selfish
Bully that you are.
Achilles,
Look to the vanquished
Hector,
He who conquered fear,
And found his own redemption
In the spiteful death you gave him.
 
Hector,
I know thee well
And love thee
As I embrace my middle years.
 

Robert M Wesley
Department of Family Medicine
Second Place, Poetry