Saturday, July 24, 2021

Paris to Helen (thinking about the Trojan war)

 


Say there were happy days

Till sorrow came to call.

As playthings of the gods,

How could we know at all?

Yet now our doom comes fast:

It will destroy us all.

 

Say there were happy days,

That all was not in vain,

Say there were happy days

Before devouring pain

Struck at the root of things

Again, again, again.

 

Say there were happy days!

Your beauty was divine.

Crazed as a man athirst

I had to make it mine.

But now I am as numb

As drunk on Lethe’s wine.

 

Say there were happy days.

Say you recall them well:

Sweetness to recollect

As we descend to hell.

Once, dear, we touched the stars,

Before we fell … and fell.

 

Say there were happy days!

I now go out to die.

Did you once love me well,

Or were our lives a lie?

Can I find any joy

In our last, strained goodbye?

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