It’s a stone’s throw to the heart if like David
you’ve got Zeus on your side
even then luck helps a well-developed biceps
a mother who dips you entirely into the river

another day of Trojan slaughter courting death
dragging death by the heels
you stared into your shield for the last time

Paris I sighed into you with my chest and hands
Briseis Patroclus choose your augury

into that harvest of spears you vanished
like a bull before the kill
immune to every tenderness but fate

what else could I have whispered in your ear
there were no other ways to love