Achilles Heel

Achilles
by Carol Ann Duffy

Myth’s river – where his mother
dipped him, fished him, a
slippery golden boy flowed on,
his name on its lips.

Without him, it was prophesied,
they would not take Troy.

Women hid him, concealed him
in girls’ sarongs; days of
sweetmeats, spices, silver songs …

But when Odysseus came, with an
athlete’s build, a sword and a shield,
he followed him to the battlefield,
the crowd’s roar,

And it was sport, not war,
his charmed foot on the ball …

But then his heel, his heel, his heel …

Carol Ann Duffy, Britain’s Poet Laureate 2009, composed this poem on the occasion of  footballer David Beckham’s injury to his Achilles tendon.



Achilles Heel is my Monotype Print (30 x 15 1/4 in.) created for exhibition in my studio during the 2012 Vashon Island Art Studio tour.

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