Father Foe
(NEAT, Winter 2013-14)
The son starts and
cries at the crested
bronze, then knows the
warrior and loves
As Hector dandles him,
death shadows the hero,
colors speech, flames
the mother's breast
She sees the slicing
rout, the scattered
kin, the future lost
Knows that first we
fight for honor, then
for bodies, and finally
for the haughty bronze
that startles, that
draws love and death
Again armor interlopes,
again it beguiles the
boy, who reaches this
time eagerly
But Hector wears dull
earth, and it is a bright
invader that dandles
the body, that moves
briskly to a wall
