Fall

Odesseus spoke of righteousness and Odesseus won
And Astyanax dropped to Earth, poor Hector’s broken son,
Falling from the highest battlements of Troy…

… and I saw a single blazing arm, a shoulder, half a head with matted hair,
Descending, leaving a trail of fatty smoke suspended in the air,
Shining, lightly tinged with sweat in the morning light.
As if deserted by its owner, it had taken flight
or had been flung from the high towers like that poor boy.

© Martin Porter 2002

Fall is loosely based around the events of 11th September 2001 and its contrast to the fall of Troy as perceived in Euripides' "Trojan Women" (Τρῳάδες). The correlation of the two events links the interpretation of acts of terror from two ages, which we often think of as being very different, but which are perhaps more similar than we wish.