Beauty & The Beast

A woman did all this. One woman.

They call her Helen - that was a prophecy.

Helen the Destroyer.

Not a name but a title.

The bride of the spear's broad blade.

Helen the homicidal.

Epidemic fury

That would possess nations.

Not a face or name but a poison

To send whole fleets to perdition

As if their captains were madmen -

Chewing and spitting her name -

Helen. The name Helen

Not so much a name as an earthquake

To bounce a city to burning rubble.

Not a name but a plague.

Spreading scream by scream from city to city,

As houses become tombs.

-Aeschylus