Myrtis

By Thomas Farmiloe

Myrtis walks the streets of Athens
Hermes has ferried her family on
Their remains are in a mass grave
About a quarter of a mile west
Their bodies buried bodies
And dogs with brittle bone
Gnaw the corpses atop the rest.

Athens’ statue shard walls
Confine a fetish for foetid
Diseases that wind through
Neighbourhoods left deserted
Of all but the unluckiest souls
Whose labour has become the
Management of ceaseless grief.

From the port of Piraeus
Up the crowded long walls
food arrives every seventh day
Hoplites claim the lion’s share
Citizen’s sons come next
Slaves take what’s left
And Myrtis saves the rest.

Her fevered heart gives out
in a stale air board house
A poor woman wraps Myrtis
In her mother’s linen shawl
And a leper man lays her
Shoulder to shoulder with
The infants of Kerameikos.

–

Tom Farmiloe is a Non-Binary writer from Manchester, UK. They are currently studying Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. You can see more of their work on Instagram @farmies_fiction; where they post writing/bookish content.