Poet Lady Katz: new forum reply to No Helen, of No Troy

New reply from Susan Katz

<p>Thank you so much for submitting your poem to be considered as Featured Poem of the Week.  Strong emotions come pounding through the intensity of this poem with a meaningful message.  Thank you for sharing it with me.  Have a very lovely day filled with creativity, Susan</p>

https://poetladykatz.com/poetry-talk/no-helen-of-no-troy

Original Post by Janhavi Munde

No Helen, of No Troy

<p class="p1">How to be an academic, an advocate,</p>
<p class="p1">A revolutionary, a human, or simply just humane,</p>
<p class="p1">When we are tied to choices</p>
<p class="p1">even monarchs couldn’t make?</p>
<p class="p1">When we are so young, only just thrown into the world,</p>
<p class="p1">And we are already at war.</p>
<p class="p1">For we know that these decisions</p>
<p class="p1">Will decide the future which we will own</p>
<p class="p1">And it is ours, solely.</p>
<p class="p1">The future is only mine, and only yours, and</p>
<p class="p1">Only ours.</p>
<p class="p1">The tragedies we marvelled at in our youth</p>
<p class="p1">Have come alive, trudging through their graves of fantasy,</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="Apple-converted-space">    </span>And gnaw at us, eat us alive, and fester us so,</p>
<p class="p1">That the only other choice is ignorance.</p>
<p class="p1">But we have learned, that Ignorance is not bliss,</p>
<p class="p1">It is lethal, deadly, dangerous,</p>
<p class="p1">the worst kind of poison.</p>
<p class="p1">Because we are not Icarus,</p>
<p class="p1">We are not the Olympians in their silence.</p>
<p class="p1">We are voices, turned Artemis, turned Athena, turned Hippolyta, turned Otrera.</p>
<p class="p1">And we must adapt, and you have forced our hand, and turned us Brutus,</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="Apple-converted-space">    </span>So Brutus we will be.</p>
<p class="p1">We wear his robe, we stab with his sword, into your back, into your back, into your back,</p>
<p class="p1">Twisting, tears in our eyes, Wretched laughs tearing their way out of our throats,</p>
<p class="p1">Shouting, Shouting, Crying: “Liberation!”,and “Freedom is Ours!”..</p>
<p class="p1">And so it will stain us, taint our conscience,</p>
<p class="p1">And stay with us forever.</p>
<p class="p1">“Et tu?” You ask,</p>
<p class="p1">Yes. Us too. Us only. Us ultimately.</p>
<p class="p1">I am not the face of this war.</p>
<p class="p1">My fallen, brothers, sisters,</p>
<p class="p1">Those who have it fires worse than me.</p>
<p class="p1">Are perhaps, Those who you muted.</p>
<p class="p1">And they, who have no voice,</p>
<p class="p1">they who bear only their heads high.</p>
<p class="p1">So if I must speak for them, I will,</p>
<p class="p1">I will shout, cry, yell, scream, until mine is gone as well,</p>
<p class="p1">And another takes my place.</p>
<p class="p1">We can only hope to be better than you.</p>
<p class="p1">Only hope that the murder of our conscience,</p>
<p class="p1">Saved the next from that fate.</p>
<p class="p1">We hope that<span class="Apple-converted-space">  </span>t h e y<span class="Apple-converted-space">  </span>will have Rome, Completely.</p>
<p class="p1">For we can only fight for it.</p>
<p class="p1">In name of No Helen, of No Troy.</p>