This Is The Face Poem by Day Williams

This is the Face

Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.
~Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus

This is the face that launched a thousand ships,
This face with tear-soaked cheeks and swollen lips,
Half-mad eyes, a tongue that rips,
Slanted teeth, cracked and chipped,
That chew but cannot grip,
Gray hair with white at the tips,
This, the face that launched a thousand ships.