Poem - 02 April 2020, 10:28

Back To Troy (pt. 2)

Summer of '88

She returned on a July afternoon, it was
a dog day
She's a mess
Driven here by a friend who deposited her like she was
baggage, unwanted
Mortified to see the look on my parents' faces when they saw her, groping about in broad daylight
"Sylvia. Is that her?" Mom asked in Ojibwe
I looked back, not wanting to answer
"Ayuh meh-ahweh (yes, that's her)." I answered
"Ki-dawoon dii-chi-ah (you should go help her)." she said
Mom knew Sylvia was out of it
No doubt that whiskey was the culprit
Perhaps she remembered her own troubled past?
She took pity on this angel that was cast...
out of heaven, out of a car...back to Troy

This isn't "Troy" anymore, I thought
I'm angry and embarrassed
I'm looking out the window and I don't see
The Helen I saw and fell in love with
I don't see
Royal beauty
And I cannot see
The first enchantment, the first engagement
Love that was meant to be

It was meant to last
I saw our future so vast
Like the Aegean
The sea of our love
We sailed it on nights full of wonder

I went out and my cousins were already there to help Helen...
Sylvia...
She managed to say hello, we embraced clumsily
The feel of her and the scent of her was there
But, tainted by whiskey
I looked at my cousins, faked a laugh and they knew
I can't take her...not like this
I watched them walk Sylvia down the hill
to their place
Still feeling that bad embrace
Reassuring myself that I'll see her again
That beautiful, sweet, monarch face

She is still Helen, I mused
I am still her prince, confused
Now more than ever
But, one thing I will never...
ever do is forget her
She will come back
To her senses, to her glory
Back in Troy we will be
This is our true love story
Written in the stars of destiny

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