Helen's Return to Troy by Joanna M. Weston

when I met her on the ramp
she stepped to one side
on sandaled feet
handed me a golden clasp
as she continued up
        and I went down

time stopped as we pulled
the cart away
        heavy she dropped
to perdition
                neck broken
hands out-flung
in one useless effort
to undo tales twisted
by foreign tongues and pens

perspectives skewed facts
up-ended by the gossip
of a thousand historians

today I weave new battles
on her ruined reputation 

*

JOANNA M. WESTON. Canada. Has one cat, multiple spiders, a herd of deer,
and two derelict hen-houses. Her middle-reader, ‘Frame and The McGuire’,
published by Tradewind Books 2015; and poetry,  ‘A Bedroom of Searchlights’,
published by Inanna Publications, 2016. Other books listed at her blog:
http://www.1960willowtree.wordpress.com/