Stillborn Achilles

I only come alive before a war,

the holy place where everyone can be right;

Never will I die at the parched blade’s edge,

nor praying in the trenches.

Never will I steel myself to meet a righteous end,

nor drown in a puddle of fear.

Never will I raze the temples of another man’s gods,

nor shatter the bones of his fathers.

Never will I command,

nor be commanded.

So I lend myself to a broken eternity,

and bury myself in a grave of mirrors.

For my words will fork no lightning,

and I am no herald of nameless fate.

I only come alive before a war,

and there is never going to be another.

Thomas Mitchelhill

23rd March 2021

1:18am