Mani Rao | Father's Day

Stop wheels

Hector's hurting

Priam cries

Dusty from playing in the yard  Hector
Astyanax wails

Faint Andromache

Hecuba lactates
On Hecuba's weeping breasts

Rest Priam's drooping cheeks
Whose guts

Garland the dogs of Troy

Not Patroclus'
Intact elevated

Body feted

A high friendship keeps you

In good stead
Your funeral games over now

Release Achilles Release  Hector
A man who grieves for a boy

Must have a soft spot

A man Hephaestus shields

Must be made of flesh
His heels I'll cuff with my wrists

His knuckles I'll press my lips
Three children walked in hand in hand

Paris – Helen – and Troy's ghost

Waiting to bloat

Priam's been waiting since