The Triumph of Achilles by Louise Glück
The Triumph of Achilles
Louise GlückIn the story of Patroclus
no one survives, not even Achilles
who was nearly a god.
Patroclus resembled him; they wore
the same armor.Always in these friendships
one serves the other, one is less than the other:
the hierarchy
is always apparent, though the legends cannot be trusted—
their source is the survivor,
the one who has been abandoned.What were the Greek ships on fire compared to this loss?
In his tent, Achilles
grieved with his whole being
and the gods sawhe was a man already dead, a victim
of the part that loved,
the part that was mortal.
KEEP READING
SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in The Triumph of Achilles by Louise Glück, published by Ecco, 1985. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
ABOUT LOUISE GLüCK
Louise Glück was born in New York, New York, on April 22, 1943, and grew up on Long Island. She is the author of numerous books of poetry, including Faithful and Virtuous Night (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2014), which won the 2014 National Book Award in Poetry; Averno (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2006), a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award in Poetry; and Vita Nova (Ecco Press, 1999), winner of Boston Book Review’s Bingham Poetry Prize and The New Yorker’s Book Award… (more)
Read more poems by Louise Glück • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
- Explore other works in pursuit of: love • sacrifice • grief • Or browse the index
- If this work resonates with you, please consider supporting the archive. Thank you for reading.
