{"id":186,"date":"2009-03-02T21:00:47","date_gmt":"2009-03-03T01:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/?p=186"},"modified":"2009-03-02T21:01:48","modified_gmt":"2009-03-03T01:01:48","slug":"from-helen-in-egypt-hd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/?p=186","title":{"rendered":"from Helen in Egypt – H.D."},"content":{"rendered":"

[audio:helen.mp3] (3:32)
\nexcerpt read by H.D. audio from Poetry Speaks: Expanded<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

3
\n…
\nfew were the words we said,
\nnor knew each other,
\nnor asked, are you Spirit?<\/p>\n

are you sister? are you brother?
\nare you alive?
\nare you dead?<\/p>\n

the harpers will sing forever
\nof how Achilles met Helen
\namong the shades,<\/p>\n

but we were not, we are not shadows;
\nas we walk, heel and sole
\nleave our sandal-prints in the sand,<\/p>\n

though the wounded heel treads lightly
\nand more lightly follow,
\nthe purple sandals.
\n…<\/p>\n

8
\nHow could I hide my eyes?
\nhow could I veil my face?
\nwith ash or charcoal from the embers?<\/p>\n

I drew out a blackened stick,
\nbut he snatched it,
\nhe flung it back,<\/p>\n

“what sort of enchantment is this?
\nwhat art will you wield with a fagot?
\nare you Hecate? are you a witch?<\/p>\n

a vulture, a hieroglyph,
\nthe sign or the name of a goddess?
\nwhat sort of goddess is this?<\/p>\n

where are we? who are you?
\nwhere is this desolate coast?
\nwho am I? am I a ghost?”<\/p>\n

“you are living, O child of Thetis,
\nas you never lived before,”
\nthen he caught at my wrist,<\/p>\n

“Helena, cursed of Greece,
\nI have seen you upon the ramparts,
\nno art is beneath your power,<\/p>\n

you stole the chosen, the flower
\nof all-time, of all-history,
\nmy children, my legions;<\/p>\n

for you were the ships burnt,
\nO cursed, O envious Isis,
\nyou–you–a vulture, a hieroglyph”;<\/p>\n

“Zeus be by witness,” I said,
\n“it was he, Amen dreamed of all this
\nphantasmagoria of Troy,<\/p>\n

it was dream and a phantasy”;
\nO Thetis, O sea-mother,<\/em>
\nI prayed, as he clutched my throat<\/p>\n

with his fingers’ remorseless steel,
\nlet me go out, let me forget,
\nlet me be lost<\/em>………<\/p>\n

O Thetis, O sea-mother, I prayer under his cloak,
\nlet me remember, let me remember,
\nforever, this Star in the night<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[audio:helen.mp3] (3:32) excerpt read by H.D. audio from Poetry Speaks: Expanded. 3 … few were the words we said, nor knew each other, nor asked, are you Spirit? are you sister? are you brother? are you alive? are you dead? the harpers will sing forever of how Achilles met Helen among the shades, but we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-phantasmagoria-of-troy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=186"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":188,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions\/188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}