Burning Troy

NaPoWriMo Day 19, poem 20/30: Today's prompt was to write the opposite of an existing poem. Yeat's Leda was mentioned as a suggestion, so I came up with an idea for a conceptually opposite take on Leda's twin daughters, Helen and Clytemnestra.  I've been trying to write something about them for a while, and this is a good start!


Burning Troy

Light your torch from mine, sister,
and we'll burn Troy to the ground.

Born unwanted,
at least we came in twos.
No place empty when you
and I are there.
I see you daily,
your goddess face and pauper heart,
and touch the glass in place of your hand.

Unwanted, but my face
could send men to death,
your bodice catch
the fallen kings of Greece
yet we were not born to love
like that,
we were not made to be adored.
With our eyes
like the sky before a storm,
with our feathered haircuts
white-blonde and wild,
Mother told us to be ugly
but girls never listen.

Tonight, escape,
burning the walls around and between us.
We were not born to hate
like that,
but the only way
is blood and fire,
sex, deceit, endless
cunning.
Maybe the flames will scorch us too,
burn off the beauty and leave
just the good.