Helen in Egypt

I

Do not despair, the hosts
surging beneath the walls,
(no more than I) are ghosts;

do not bewail the Fall,
the scene is empty and I am alone,
yet in this Amen-temple,

I hear their voices,
for there is no veil between us,
only space and leisure

and long corridors of lotus-bud
unfurled upon the pillars
and reed of the papyrus;

Amen ( or Zeus we called him)
brought me here

and long corridors of lotus-bud
furled on the pillars
and the lotus-flower unfurled;

reed
with reed of the papyrus;
Amen ( or Zeus we called him)
brought me here;

fear nothing of the future or the past,
He, God will guide you,
bring you to this place

as he brought me, his daughter,
twin-sister of twin-brothers
and Clytemnestra, shadow of us all;

The old enchantment holds,
here there is peace for Helena,
Helen, hated of all Greece.

the old enchantment holds,
here there is peace
for Helena, Helen, hated of all Greece.

III

Alas, my brothers,
Helen did not walk
upon the ramparts,

she whom you cursed
was but the phantom
and the shadow thrown, of a reflection

she whom you cursed
but the phantom and the shadow thrown
of a reflection;

you are forgiven for I know my own,
and God for his own purpose
will it so, that I

stricken, forsaken draw to me,
through magic greater than the trial of arms,
your own invincible, unconquered Sire,
unchallenged

Lord of your legions,
King of myrmidons,
unconquerable,

Lord of your legions, King of myrmidons,
unconquerable, a mountain and a grave,
Achilles;

few were the words we said,
nor knew each other,
nor asked, are you Spirit ?

are you brother, father? I sister ? are you brother ?
are you alive ?
are you dead ?

the harpers will sing forever
of how Achilles met Helen
among the shades,

but we were not, we are not shadows;
as we walk, heel and sole
leave our sandal-prints in the sand

though the wounded heel treads lightly
and more lightly follow,
the purple sandals.

Open or closed, my peplum is woven as of old,
my chiton is fine linen pleated,
and my zone is gold.

V

This was the token, his mortality;
immortality and victory were dissolved,
in the fire that spread upward from his thigh,

I am no more immortal,
I am man among the millions,
no hero-god among the Myrmidons;

some said abowman from the walls
let fly the dart,
some said it was Apollo

some said a bowman from the walls,
let fly the dart, some said it was Apollo,
but I, Helena know, it was Love's arrow;

the body honoured
by the Grecian host,
was but an iron casement,

it was God's plan
to melt the icy form to the form of a fortress of the soul,
and free the man;

God's plan is other than the priests disclose;
it is true it was wrend on that shore,
it is true that my wet garments clung to me

like a nymphs or a psyche-butterflies,
it is true that I did not know
whether in dream or in trance,

God had summoned me hither,
until I saw the dim outline grow clearer

God's plan is other than the priests disclose;
it is true that I did not know why
whether (in dream or in trance)

God had summoned me hither,
until I saw the dim outline
grow clearer,

as the new Mortal,
shedding his glory,
limped slowly across the sand.

7.

VII

We huddled over the flames,
was there ever such a brazier ?
a night-bird hooted past,

he started, ' a curious flight,
a carrion creature - what - '
(dear God, let him forget ),

I said, 'there is mystery in this place,
I am instructed, I know the script,
the shape of this bird is a letter,

they call it the heiroglyph ;
strive not, it is dedicate
to the goddess here, she is Isis';

'Isis', he said, 'or Thetis', I said,
recalling, remembering, invoking
his sea-mother ;

flame, I prayed, flame forget,
forgive and forget the other,
let my heart be filled with peace,

let me love him, as Thetis, his mother,
for I knew him, I saw in his eyes,
the sea-emchantment, but he

knew not yet, Helen of Sparta,
knew not Helen of Troy,
knew not Helena, hated of Greece.

III

I said, I was instructed in the writ,
but I had only heard of it,
when our priests decried

papyrus fragments,
travellers brought back,
as crude, untutored, primal lettering;

I had only seen a tattered scroll's
dark outline of a caravel
with a great sun's
outline,

but inked-in, as with shadow;
it seemed a shadow-sun,
the boat, a picture of a toy;

I was not interested,
I was not instructed,
nor guessed the inner sense of the heiratic,

but when the bird swooped past,
that first evening,
I seemed to know the writing,

as if God made the picture
and matched it
with a living heiroglyph;

how did I know the vulture ?
why did I invoke the mother ?
why was he seized with anger ?
terror ?

in the dark, I must have looked
an inked-in shadow, but with his anger,
that ember, I became

what his accusation made me,
Isis, forever with that Child,
the Hawk Horus.

13.

V

The inked-in sun
within the caravel,
was symbol of Osiris,

King and Magician,
ruler of the dead,
and he was torn asunder

by his brother, so they said,
the Whirlwind, Typhon

by his brother,
so they said,
the Whirlwind, Typhon ;

so with the whirlwind
of the chariot-wheels,
the ling of metal

and the glint of steel,
Achilles lorded the Simonian plain,
as Typhon, the Destroyer ;

destroyer and destroyed,
his very-self was lost,
himself defeated;

the scattered host
(limbs torn asunder)
was the Osiris,

'the flower of all-time,
of all ali-history,
my children, and my legions ;'

he lived, the immortal son
of the sea-goddess,
but anger made him sterner,

anger enclosed Osiris,
within the on-casement
of the Whirlwind, War;

they were not two but one,
Typhon-Osiris,
to the initiate.

16.

VIII

Is Fate inexorable ?
did Zeus decree that forever,
Love should be born of War ?

O Eros of flaming wings,
O Horus of golden feathers,
let my heart be filled with peace,

let me draw him back to this place ;
alone, does he pace the beach,
does he question the wandering stars,

swaying as before the mast,
' the season is different,
we are far from - from - '‡

what heart-break, what unappeasable
ache, burning within his sinews,
as he remembers the arrow

that stole Immortality
and made him a Mortal ;
let Helen's imperious quest

solve the riddle,
through this temple, toimmortals written upon the walls,
be shed, as a priestess' mantle ;

no priestess calls him to me,
I care not, nor care to know,
what is or is not the answer,

whether as Orpheus, he dared the depth of Hell,
whether as Phaeton, challenged the car of the sun,
whether he stole, as Prometheus stole

forbidden knowledge from heaven,
whether he broke the law,
(forgive me, O Zeus, the lawgiver);

17

whether he changed, as Circe changed,
men into swine;
whether he flouted his power,

while women fell, as the scythe
of his visored glance swept them over;
whether he laughed as they fell;

whether
where he found, here and there,
a girl for a change in pleasure,
when weary after the <u>excellent</u> fray,

his elect slept in their tents ;
whether here and there, he stole a child,
here and there, everywhere,

luring youth into battle;
whether he cheated, he lied -
(he was brave ? an immortal
to challenge mortality ?)

whether he raised a city,
as a woman, or wore a crown,
unearned by his

to challenge mortality ?)
whether he raised a city,
as a woman, or wore a crown/

MECH ZAHHEN unearned by his merit
he drew as a magnet drew
the ore from the rock ?

gold from dross ?
death from life ?
was war inevitable ?

Amen-Zeus, let me not ask,
but claim him and know the Sun,
hidden behind the sun of our visible day.

18.

III

I

I say, 'what island shall we seek,'
to keep him from staring out
between the painted stele,

' shall it be Cos or Crete? '
I would rather forget,
I would rather forget,

but a phantom pursues him,
shall a phantom threaten my peace ?
what does it matter,

who won, who lost ?
must the Battle be fought and fought
in his memory ?

and do I care,
do I care greatly
to keep him eternally ?
keep him eternally ?

I was happier alone,
why did I call him to me ?
must I forever look back ?

must I summon the names of home,
an enchantment to hold him here ?
' shall we seek Cyprus' rose,

or Naxos' purple grape ?
O do not turn, do not turn,
go, follow the ways of the sea,

but he turns, he speaks to me,
'Helena, whibh was the dream,
which the divin of Cytheraea' ?
was [veil]

23.

IV

I

You say, I could not see,
but God had given to me,
the eyes of an eagle;

you say, I could not know
how many paces there were
from turret to turret;

there was bitter discussion and hate,
she could leave by a secret gate,
and the <u>armies</u> be saved;

why does she hold us here?
the winters were ruthless and bleak,
the summer burnt up the plain

and the army with fever;
they fell as the ears of wheat
when a reaper harvests the grain;

is this the harvest?
year after year, we fought
to enter a prison, a fortress;

was she a prisoner ?
did she wanton, awake ?
or asleep, did she dream of home ?

an arrow would settle it,
but no man dared aim at the mark
that taunted and angered us;

and we asked, wouldn't an arrow pierce
a Daemon's heart ? a devil ?
had she enchanted us

with a dream of daring, of peril,
as yet un-writ in the scrolls of history,
unsung as yet by the poets ?

25.

### III
I counted the fall of her feet
from turret to turret,
will the count even yesterday's,
will there be five over?
this was a game I played,
a game of prophecy,
if she turns and shields her eyes,
gazing over the plain- yes -
if she waits as she waited
day before yesterday,
for ten heart-beats before
she turns again - no -
what was the question
to which she gave the answer
with the measured fall of her feet,
or her pause over the rampart
that bridged the iron-gate?
shall we strike as my legions had struck,
first through the long fight,
or shall we take second place
and leave the Trojan's fate to Odysseus?
did the Command read backward?
I stooped to fasten a grio
that was loose at the ankle,
when she turned ; I XXXXX stood
indifferent to the rasp of metal,
and her eyes met mine ;
you say, I could not see her eyes
across the field of battle,
I could not see their light
shimmering as light on the changeable sea?
all things would change but XXXXX never
the glance she exchanged with me.

33.

VIII

Have you ever seen a swan,
when you threaten its nest -
two swans, but she was alone,

who was never alone;
the wings of an angry swan
can compass the earth,

can drive the demons
back to Tartarus,
can measure heaven in their span;

THEE'SE, IXXE, IXXE, EAE
one swan and one cygnet
were stronger than all the host,
assembled upon the slopes

and the hills of Aulis;
she was born of a Swan,
and I and our brothers,

WE are children of Zeus;
I must wait, I must wonder again
at the fate that has brought me here;

surely, she must forget,
she must forget the past,
and I must forget Achilles ...

... but never the ember
born of his strange attack,
never his anger,

never the fire,
never the brazier,
never the Star in the night.

44

From Argos, from distant Sythia,
from Delos, from Arcady,
the harp-strings will answer

the chant, the rhythm, the metre,
the syllables H-E-L-E-N-A;
Helena mistress of Love,

Helena, one with the Paphian,
Helena, reads the decree,
shall be shrined forever;

in Melos, in Thessaly,
they shall weave their garlands of myrrh
to honour the name of Love,

begot of the Ships and of War;
one indestructible name,
to inspire the Scribe and refute

the doubts of the dissolute;
this is the Law,
this, the Mandate:

let no man strive against Fate,
Helena has withstood
the rancour of time and of hate.

III

VI

45

Clytemnestra struck with her mind,
with the Will-to-Power,
her Lord returned with Cassandra,

and she had a lover;
does it even the Balance
if a wife repeats a husband's folly?

never; the law is different;
if a woman fights,
she must fight by stealth,

with invisible gear;
no sword, no dagger, no spear
in a woman's hands

can make wrong, right;
do not strive to re-weave, Helen,
the pattern the Fates decree,

or tangle the threads of Nemesis;
she is not Nemesis, as you named her,
nor Nephthys, but perhaps Astarte

will re-call her ultimately;
neither she nor her son,
by a sword or a dagger's thrust,

could alter the course of a Star,
glowing by turns as ice, by turns, as fire,
Agamemnon and the Trojan War.

VII

The War is over and done
for us in the precinct;
the war **had** endured was different,

yet my Lord resembled Achilles;
when they reach a certain degree,
they are one, alike utterly;

could they have chosen
another way, another Fate?
each could - Agamemnon, Achilles,

and the Daemon
I will not name
but would they? / they would not;

but the Balance sways,
another star appears,
as they step from the gold into the iron-ring;

as a flash in the heaven at noon
that blinds the sun,
is their Meeting.

48.

VI

III

Be still, I say, strive not,
yourself to annul the decree;
you can not return to the past

nor stay the sun in his course;
be still, she said, why weep?
you spoke of your happiness,

I was near you and heard you speak;
I heard you question Achilles
and Achilles answer you;

be still, my sister, my shadow;
your sister, your shadow was near,
lurking behind the pillars,

counting the fall of your feet,
as Achilles beneath the ramparts;
you spoke and I heard you speak;

I heard you call to your sister,
I heard you conjure her name
and the name of the Dioscouri;

be at peace, I have learned of the priests
the decree of your destiny;
I have talked with Proteus - or -

another? (whoever he be,
he manifests variously);

but I - I may not change
the Nameless-of-many-Names decree

(nor you) in stature, in face,
yet I slide along the pillars,
from shadow to shadow and out,

3 lines

IV
---

I know your agony,
for Proteus revealed to me,
your secret; mine is the same;

you fear the ritual,
the procession and sacred rite
will separate you and Achilles;

hay more, you fear
the rule of the Hierarchy,
lest the fame of Helen be greater

in Greece, than its greatest warrior;
I, in the East, was rejected,
insulted by blind,

insensate madness,
as in the West, were you;
half a God, half a Devil,

my Lord insulted me,
a Daeva, a Daemon, by name -
but I will not name him;

your fate is my fate,
the fate of Lovers
whose strength overthrows the strength

of the King, the Daemon or Hero
whom God has given them to be
their Bridegroom forever.

VIII

51

Strive not to wake the dead;
the incomparable host
with Helen and Achilles,

are not dead, not lost;
the isles are fair (nor far),
Paphos, the Cyclades;

a simple spiral-shell may tell
a tale more ancient
than these mysteries;

dare the uncharted seas,
Achilles waits, and life;
beyond these pylons and these gates,

is magic of the wind, the gale;
the xanthexy mystery of a forest-tree,
whispering its secrets upon Kithairon,

holds subtler symbols, meaning
than this written stone
or leaves of the papyrus;

let rapture summon
and the foam-flecked sand,
and wind and hail,

rain, sleet and the bewildering snow
that lifts and falls,
conceils, reveals,

(the actual
and the apparent veil),
Helen - come home.