Lament For Dead Heroes Poem by Kewal Paigankar

History is being written
Its pages cannot be torn
Not even by the Gods
Who aid or obstruct
While looking down
At heroic figures, fulfilling their destiny
On an earth ravaged by war
Showing great valour and courage
To inspire future generations
For a millennium and more.

Tomorrow there will be thunder
The sky will be split open
By sounds never heard before
While the ground will reverberate, then collapse
Under the hooves
Of a thousand horses
Galloping across the vast dusty plains
Their armoured mounts full of purpose.

In the middle of a war
Two men will battle
For individual honour
One a family man, the other a loner.
One is fired by anger and revenge;
The other is carrying his people’s hopes
And his father’s blessings
In his sword, shield and spear.
One is a great mortal
The other a near immortal.

Soon the mortal man will be slain
Under the fierce Mediterranean sun.
His conqueror will rejoice, unaware
That the pair will meet again
As ghosts, drifting through time
Looking glorious and in youthful prime
Mourning the heavy loss of life
And the sufferings of widows and orphans
In the name of freedom, land, revenge, love
And what else besides?



Thus Achilles will weep
For the first and only time
As he cradles Hector in his arms
Wondering why young men
Have to make the ultimate sacrifice
For peace to return
Across the world’s regions.