Helen In Egypt
Hilda Doolittle
Helen herself seems almost ready for this sacrifice —at least, for the immolation of herself before this greatest love of Achilles, his dedication to “his own ship” and the figurehead, “an idol or eidolon … a mermaid, Thetis upon the prow.” Did her eyes slant in the old way? was she Greek or Egyptian? had some Phoenician sailor wrought her? was she oak-wood or cedar? had she been cut from an awkward block of ship-wood at the ship-builders, and afterwards riveted there, or had the prow itself been shaped to her mermaid body, curved to her mermaid hair? was there a dash of paint in the beginning, in the garment-fold, did the blue afterwards wear away? did they re-touch her arms, her shoulders? did anyone touch her ever? Had she other zealot and lover, or did he alone worship her? did she wear a girdle of sea-weed or a painted crown? how often did her high breasts meet the spray, how often dive down?
