Mother-kill | Beatrice Gordon

Mother-kill

What kind of man— Or woman Can do the deed of mother-kill? Can the hands of those she birthed Thrust the sword of vengeance Through her heart? This mother bared her breast And fed them milk But blood as well While serpents coiled about her feet Waiting for their time and place.

Her mother’s milk Unnourishing— She bred instead, Fury, Evil, And hands to thrust the sword For mother-kill.

Her children she marked for death To warm her lover’s bed. Their father’s feet Axed off. She did the deed While he bathed; His Trojan mistress Hacked to death. Mother and her lover Must die as well. Son and daughter Sought revenge For their dead father. Have they forgotten He sacrificed their sister For fair winds To Troy?

“Peace, peace, To live out my life in peace,” The son calls out. The gods intrude, Athena most of all,

Calls off the Furies Now Eumenides, Deems these children Innocent.

Can Aeropagus justice Erase the deed Of mother-kill?

Beatrice Gordon