Where no mortal can go [Patroclus/Achilles]

[roesslyng]

Title: Where no mortal can go
Fandom: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Characters/Pairing: Patroclus/Achilles
Rating: 10+; canon-typical content or milder
Length: 28 lines poetry
Summary: Patroclus agreed to follow, and so he will.
Other: Flashpoetry because this novel is giving me feelings.



Where no mortal can go

Your eyes are wild when you come to me
dripping blood, wrapped in it like a cloak
wearing it like a tunic.
And I listen as you tell me
of those your spear brought down
and how they fell, no poetry on your lips
no embellishment as you speak
of gore, brains, viscera.
Only for you would I endure this,
because I know
that in the morning's light
you will be the same Achilles
whose hands danced along strings
as you played my mother's lyre,
whose feet flashed as you ran laughing
along the beach as I kept your time,
whose eyes widened in joy at the sight
of tender figs cupped in my palm.
Your doom crowns your golden head
circles it like laurels
and you have told me that you will go to it
that a life of quiet is not for you.
Know this: I have followed you
from Phythia to Pelion
to Scyros, Aulis, and to Troy
and when your fate takes you
where no mortal can go
I will follow you again.