Trojan Horse

step-father's marrow is a white
man's, that's steadily killing
him

Cassandra (Mother) says graft
versus host disease is a war
he'll certainly lose

Snakes have licked the ears
of hers and mine, the fall
of Troy is charted by doctors
with monotone voices and weary
stares

Body stripped bare, he's already
burned upon the pyre, Chemotherapy
Ultraviolet scorching, patches of
crusty flesh

In dreams he plays a giant mystical
organ with me, keys made of book
bindings and slabs of gold, that slid
beneath my fingers to a melody not my
own

He smiles, sways to the chaotic notes
and when all's gone silent and still
he stares at me;

"The battles we lose inside ourselves
will always kill us in the end."

I beg Apollo to blindfold us until
the fall.