Iphigenia’s Scar

Anisha Lakhani

- 2 -

Echo

Yours is not a single farewellGiven ceremoniously at some famed portNo -Yours is a series of departuresFresh, raw, unprecedentedBruising each tender dayWith a stamp of rejection.!I am wading in a sea of memoriesHaunted by every empty horizonAnd the wail of the Sirens is deafening now -Repeating over, and over, and overIt never wasIt never wasIt never was.!

And now that you have sailed awayHome no longer existsWe are all lost at seaMere ghosts of our former selvesInteracting without meaning or consequence or thoughtSlipping through daysSinking into the nightGrasping for an occasional memoryThat makes us real again, even for an instantBut even the memory is a betrayal.!

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Reversal

For Agamemnon the journey was worth the sacrificeSo he looked only aheadGiving no acknowledgement to the victoryAlready by his sideAs she followed him up the mountainEyes shining, forever in loveHer fatherWhole world centeredOn the careless hold of his handWhich would soon let goAnd come crashing downBefore she could utter the warningThat hollow winds would lead himOn a lifeless journey.I wish those who say Iphigenia survivedSpoke trueThat she broke free of her father’s shadowAnd cursed the fateful hand before it cursed her.Yet those who speak of her survivalDo so with downcast eyesAnd faraway glancesAt a sea that holds too many secretsOf journeys spurred on only after immense sacrifice.!I wish those who say Iphigenia sailed awaySaw her launch her shipOn the eve of her father’s departureLeaving!him!To miss!herUnchanging horizons spearThe heart is a dull throb.

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Marker

Your name is etched in permanent markerOn anonymous boxes scattered throughout the houseLike an incantation repeated endlesslyAcknowledging your simultaneous departure and presenceIn the hollow cavern that was once our home.Outside the ivy we plantedPeeps hopefully into empty windowsAnd bleeds back into the earth.!Ours is not an immortal epic for the agesA song that will be sung and rememberedAnd revered -Ours is not a legend that will survive the decadesOr even the years.Ours is a single, broken chordStained with bitterness and regretTrampledBrokenForgotten.And so it became a cursed loveOne that would be damaged beyond repair!And because it was a tale often toldIt began to lose its meaning!And since no one could ever take the place of her fatherMen no longer existed!And since she could neither forgive nor hateThe emptiness stretched onwards!Like a gaping hole.!