Troy
A murderer’s hands, touching,
Feather-light, another’s tattered flesh;
Love’s soft whispers
Drowning in the din of slaughter;
Bloodstained kisses bitten
From snarling lips;
Unwilling creatures in our beds,
Pain fuelling lust;
Blood of children on our hands,
Gold lining your purse.
Erastes, eromenos, philos,
What have we come to?
Butchers, puppets, toys
Of malevolent gods and malicious kings.
Erastes, eromenos, philos,
What have we become?
Right. Obviously, I'm too emotionally invested in the Illiad. And, maybe not as obviously, this is Patroclus reflecting on how the war has affected them. Anyway, 'erastes' means 'lover', 'eromenos' means 'beloved' and the two are completely different things, more like the 'dom' and 'sub' than a couple, ie, the terms are not really interchangable. Also, 'philos' is used to a friend, but the word literally means 'love'. And, now that the explanation is rather bigger than the poem, I'll quit jabbering.
2 comments:
sorry about not commenting earlier.
didn't want ot break the trance.
you could have posted the explanation separately or as a footnote or something...because though,as always, it's very enlightening, i think the post would better end with
"Erastes, eromenos, philos,What have we become?"
anyway, ...lovely.
Yeah... though about doing that at first but wasn't sure anyone would bother to check a separate post. Thanks.
Post a Comment