by Alice Oswald
Pressed flat to the floor
Of a leafy wood
That loitering eye looks once
And kills
PANDARUS son of Lycaon had a wife at home
In his high-roofed house in the foothills of Ida
He was captain of Zelea and he and his men
Used to drink the black raw water from the river
He was a rich man a master bowman
Eleven war cars in his stables brand new beautifully made
With rugs and thoroughbred horses
He couldn’t bear to risk them in the War
He went on foot to Troy with nothing but his bow
But that was no good to him
The arrows kept flying off at angles
If I ever get home he said
And see my wife and my high-roofed house
May a stranger cut off my head if I don’t
Smash this bow and throw it with my own hands
Into the fire it has proved such a nothingness
But he climbed up nevertheless next to Aeneas
He charged at Diomedes and a spear
Thrown by Diomedes pushed hard in by Athene
Hit him between the eyes it split-second
Splintered his teeth cut through his tongue broke off his jaw
And came out clean through the chin
Like an oak tree struck by lightning
Throws up its arms and burns
Terrifying for a man out walking
To smell that sulphur smell
And see the fields flickering ahead of him
Lit up blue by the strangeness of god
Like an oak tree struck by lightning
Throws up its arms and burns
Terrifying for a man out walking
To smell that sulphur smell
And see the fields flickering ahead of him
Lit up blue by the strangeness of god
DEICOON the Trojan
Was too eager too heroic
He found praise yes
But also death
Like snow falls quickly from god to the ground
When the north wind blows down the heavens
Like snow falls quickly from god to the ground
When the north wind blows down the heavens
ORSILOCHUS and CRETHON grew restless
They had shallow stony eyes
Always staring at the pulling sea
And they were the grandsons of a river
Famous Alpheus whose muscular waters
Wind round Pylos
But those cold blue arms couldn’t keep them
As soon as they were old enough
They took a ship to Troy their story
Finishes here in darkness
What happened to PYLAEMENES
He came from the Black Sea those dusty plains
That bring forth mules and loud men
His heart was made of coarse cloth
And his manners were loose like old sacking
He was a great captain but Menelaus killed him
And his driver MYDON in the act of turning his horses
Was killed by Antilochus
Like two mules on a shaly path in the mountains
Carrying a huge roof truss or the beam of a boat
Go on mile after mile giving it their willingness
Until the effort breaks their strength
Like two mules on a shaly path in the mountains
Carrying a huge roof truss or the beam of a boat
Go on mile after mile giving it their willingness
Until the effort breaks their strength
And
MENESTHES
ANCHIALOS
AMPHIUS
TLEPOLEMOS
COERANUS
CHROMIUS
ALCASTOR
ALCANDER
HALIUS
PYRTANIS
NOEMON
TEUTHRAS
ORESTES
TRECHUS
OENOMAUS
HELENUS
ORESBIUS
PERIPHAS
And
ACAMAS a massive man best fighter in Thrace
Came over the choppy tides of the Hellespont
And almost instantly took a blow on his helmet
The spear pressed through to his skull
Tipped with darkness
It was Ajax who stopped him
Like that slow-motion moment
When a woman weighs the wool
Her poor old spider hands
Work all night spinning a living for her children
And then she stops
She soothes the scales to a standstill
Like that slow-motion moment
When a woman weighs the wool
Her poor old spider hands
Work all night spinning a living for her children
And then she stops
She soothes the scales to a standstill
AXYLUS son of Teuthras
Lived all his life in the lovely harbour of Arisbe
Looking down at the Hellespont
Everyone knew that plump man
Sitting on the step with his door wide open
He who so loved his friends
Died side by side with CALESIUS
In a daze of loneliness
Their conversation unfinished
Like the hawk of the hills the perfect killer
Easily outflies the clattering dove
She dips away but he follows he ripples
He hangs his black hooks over her
And snares her with a thin cry
In praise of her softness
Like the hawk of the hills the perfect killer
Easily outflies the clattering dove
She dips away but he follows he ripples
He hangs his black hooks over her
And snares her with a thin cry
In praise of her softness
There was a blue pool who loved her loneliness
Lay on her stones clear-eyed staring at trees
Her name was Abarbarea
A young man found her in the hills
He took one look at her shivering freshness
And stripped off his clothes
In the middle of his astonished sheep
He jumped off a rock right into her arms
And from that quick fling there were two children
PEDASUS and AESEPUS
They died at Troy on the same day
Like when a ditch-maker takes a mattock to water
To cut it loose from its clods at first
It’s just a secret trickle under nettles
But then the pebbles shout out water
And it runs downhill calling to his crops and orchards
Leaving him staring
Like when a ditch-maker takes a mattock to water
To cut it loose from its clods at first
It’s just a secret trickle under nettles
But then the pebbles shout out water
And it runs downhill calling to his crops and orchards
Leaving him staring
ASTYALOS
PIDUTES
ARETAON
The flash of a spear
Woke them with a jolt
And
ANTILOCHUS
ELATUS
PHYLAKOS
MELANTHIUS
Like when god keeps the night awake with lightning
And the sky jumps into readiness for a huge rainstorm
And sometimes hail or snow when blizzards wander in the fields
Like when god keeps the night awake with lightning
And the sky jumps into readiness for a huge rainstorm
And sometimes hail or snow when blizzards wander in the fields
ADRESTUS almost survived it was horrible
To hear the hoof-kicking struggle of his horses
Tangled on a tamarisk branch
The cart cracked the man tipped headfirst forwards
And landed on his mouth in the dust
And there instantly stood Menelaus
A sundial moving over his last moments
With a long shadowing spear
Take me alive said Adrestus
I’ll give you everything gold bronze iron
My father is a rich man take me alive
But Agamemnon heard him
Weakness what is this weakness Menelaus
Don’t tell me you love these men
With their impeccable wife-thief manners
A death-curse on all of them kill them all
Even the unborn ones in their mothers’ bellies
Be uncried for unburied
And that was the earth’s moment
That was the death of Adrestus
Like a good axe in good hands
Finds out the secret of wood and splits it open
When a man for example cuts out timbers for a boat
And his axe is an iron decision swinging his arm
Like a good axe in good hands
Finds out the secret of wood and splits it open
When a man for example cuts out timbers for a boat
And his axe is an iron decision swinging his arm
MENESTHIUS the only son of big-eyed Phylomedusa
Came overland to Troy not quite knowing why
Until he met Paris running in a love-rage towards him
With the smell of Helen still on his hands
Like a rainbow shining a warning to the world
A bright banner of disruption hung above the fields
Meaning war perhaps or maybe just a summer storm
So that everyone stops work and looks up and the flocks
grow restless
Like a rainbow shining a warning to the world
A bright banner of disruption hung above the fields
Meaning war perhaps or maybe just a summer storm
So that everyone stops work and looks up and the flocks
grow restless
Another man springing into his chariot
Felt a blow on his shoulder and dropped
Like a leaf from a topmost twig
His name was IPHINOUS
And ENIOPEUS with high hopes
Drove Hector into battle
Into the terrifying anti-world of the wounded
The wheels kept slewing over bodies
But he held tight he was good with horses
Until a spear shocked him in the nipple
He vanished backwards and hit the ground under their hooves
Clang his soul burst into the open
And AGELAOS in the act of turning
Noticed the death cloud Diomedes towering towards him
He was heaving his horses round swearing
When a spearshot pushed through his shout and out through his chest
He fell made of metal banging on the ground
Like a man put a wand of olive in the earth
And watered it and that wand became a wave
It became a whip a spine a crown
It became a wind-dictionary
It could speak in tongues
It became a wobbling wagon-load of flowers
And then a storm came spinning by
And it became a broken tree uprooted
It became a wood pile in a lonely field
Like a man put a wand of olive in the earth
And watered it and that wand became a wave
It became a whip a spine a crown
It became a wind-dictionary
It could speak in tongues
It became a wobbling wagon-load of flowers
And then a storm came spinning by
And it became a broken tree uprooted
It became a wood pile in a lonely field
Eight flint-leaved arrows seemingly out of nowhere
Shot through ORSILOCHUS
ORMENUS
OPHELESTES
DAETOR
CHROMIUS
LYCOPHONTES
AMOPAON
MELANIPPUS
That was Teucer
Ducking behind his brother’s shield
And now the arrow flies through GORGYTHION
Somebody’s darling son
As if it was June
A poppy being hammered by the rain
Sinks its head down
It’s exactly like that
When a man’s neck gives in
And the bronze calyx of his helmet
Sinks his head down
As if it was June
A poppy being hammered by the rain
Sinks its head down
It’s exactly like that
When a man’s neck gives in
And the bronze calyx of his helmet
Sinks his head down
Poor ARCHEPTOLEMOS
Someone was there
And the next moment no one
Like fire with its loose hair flying rushes through a city
The look of unmasked light shocks everything to rubble
And flames howl through the gaps
Like fire with its loose hair flying rushes through a city
The look of unmasked light shocks everything to rubble
And flames howl through the gaps
What was that shrill sound
Five sisters at the grave
Calling the ghost of DOLON
They remember an ugly man but quick
In a crack of light in the sweet smelling glimmer before dawn
He was caught creeping to the ships
He wore a weasel cap he was soft
Dishonest scared stooped they remember
How under a spear’s eye he offered everything
All his father’s money all his own
Every Trojan weakness every hope of their allies
Even the exact position of the Thracians
And the colour and size and price of the horses of Rhesus
They keep asking him why why
He gave away groaning every secret in his body
And was still pleading for his head
When his head rolled onto the mud
Like the fly the daredevil fly
Being brushed away
But busying back
The lunatic fly who loves licking
And will follow a man all day
For a nip of his blood
Like the fly the daredevil fly
Being brushed away
But busying back
The lunatic fly who loves licking
And will follow a man all day
For a nip of his blood
Recently arrived and camping apart from everyone
With weapons cleaned and layed down like cutlery
This is horrible this is some kind of bloodfeast
And beside each man his horses
Twelve anonymous Thracians were killed in their sleep
Before their ghosts had time to keep hold of their names
It was so sudden
The raw meat smell of their bodies woke up the dogs
And these were rich men
They had long smooth hair but Diomedes
Red-faced quietly like a butcher keeping up with his order
Got rid of them
And the last one RHESUS was a king
He should never have come here
Bringing over the water those huge white horses
With their chains and painted cheek guards
Extraordinary creatures almost marble but moving
Like wolves always wanting something
Thin shapes always working the hills
When a shepherd lets his flocks wander
And the weaklings bleat their fear
Within seconds wolves will appear
Like wolves always wanting something
Thin shapes always working the hills
When a shepherd lets his flocks wander
And the weaklings bleat their fear
Within seconds wolves will appear
Two more metal ornaments
Knocked down anonymous in their helmets
And when those iron heads opened
Everyone whispered listen
That was ISOS and ANTIPHOS
They used to be shepherds they were hill people
Working out of reach of the world
Those were the two boys Achilles kidnapped
Among the wolves and buzzards of Mount Ida
They said it was wonderful to be tied in creepers
And taken to the other side by that gypsy
They said he could talk to horses
They said his mother was a seal or mermaid
And he introduced them to Agamemnon
The great king of Mycenae poor fools
Who came home as proud as astronauts
And didn’t want to farm any more
And went riding out to be killed by Agamemnon
Like a boat
Going into the foaming mouth of a wave
In the body of the wind
Everything vanishes
And the sailors stare at mid-air
Like a boat
Going into the foaming mouth of a wave
In the body of the wind
Everything vanishes
And the sailors stare at mid-air
Antimachus was bribed this is well known
Antimachus was a friend of Paris
Who put the case for war
He opened a door in the earth
And a whole generation entered
Including his own young sons
PEISANDER and HIPPOLOCHUS
Two dazed teenagers trotting into battle
On their father’s expensive horses
And those horses those colossal death-muscles
Ramped and flared and the reins
Slipped from the boys’ hands
Please take us alive they shouted
Our father is Antimachus a gentleman
He has the cost of us both in cash back at home
We could fetch it
But Agamemnon remembered
Their father was that sly old man
Who tried to murder Menelaus
Antimachus assured them
He had acted in good faith
But their ghosts said nothing
Like close to the grey sea the waiting rocks
Outstare the winds and the big waves
Running at them open-mouthed
Like close to the grey sea the waiting rocks
Outstare the winds and the big waves
Running at them open-mouthed
IPHIDAMAS a big ambitious boy
At the age of eighteen at the age of restlessness
His family crippled him with love
They gave him a flute and told him to amuse himself
In his grandfather’s sheep-nibbled fields
That didn’t work they gave him a bride
Poor woman lying in her new name alone
She said even on his wedding night
He seemed to be wearing armour
He kept yawning and looking far away
And by the next morning he’d vanished