Watched in silence a war wage
A warrior undefeated, a heel untouched
Slain with an arrow unguided
A face that launched a thousand ships
In the turbulent seas where battles brew
Ending with tragedy at each doorstep
Fades away, a glory past
A smile that’s lost in the pages of history
"The Battle of Troy" - a myth or history? Sometimes I think that myths arise from the pages of history, exaggerated beyond the imaginations of unsuspecting humans thereby giving them them the persona of a legend.
ReplyDeleteWhen Paris elopes with the beautiful Helen, the wife of Menelaus, he inadvertently launches the destruction of the invincible city - Troy. Helen's beauty has always been described as "the face that launched a thousand ships" for that is the number of ships carrying warriors that Agamemnon, Menelaus' brother purportedly took to Troy to defend his brother's honor. Or was it a greedy king's excuse to take over the kingdom of Troy?
It is said that mid-war the Gods were forbidden by Zeus to side with either the Greeks or the Trojans in this war to death borne out of a love so intense. The extra-ordinary warrior, Achilles lost in this war from a wound to his heel, thus giving the world the expression - "Achilles' heel".
This greatest of all tragedies left behind almost nothing as a once impenetrable kingdom of Troy was brought down and destroyed due to love.
"Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss."