In between the play areas of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, I stumbled on this poem by the UK's Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. Duffy holds a special place in my heart as The Man and I decided to have one of her poems read at our wedding.
Enjoy!
Achilles
by Carol Ann Duffy, inspired by David Beckham's Achilles' tendon
injury
Myth's river — where his mother dipped him, fished him, a
slippery golden boy flowed on, his name on its lips.
Without him, it was
prophesied, they would not take Troy.
Women hid him, concealed him in
girls' sarongs; days of sweetmeats, spices, silver songs...
But when
Odysseus came, with an athlete's build, a sword and a shield, he followed him to
the battlefield, the crowd's roar,
And it was sport, not war, his
charmed foot on the ball...
But then his heel, his heel, his heel...
4 comments:
Wonderful poem. I'm showing this to my eleven-year-old son, who is a big mythology buff.
Children require stamina building. I handle it better with my own than I did when I watched my baby nephew once a week. And I was pregnant at the time, saying, "What have I gotten myself info?"
I read it to my son, who said, "Makes sense. Cool."
Awesome poem. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Theresa - so glad your son enjoyed it! You have very clever offspring. :)
And thanks, Nancy.
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