Echoes of Sorrow & Forgiveness:The Tragic Brotherhood of Achilles & Patroclus

Sammy Ariyoshi

Perhaps we were always doomed from the start, such masters of skillful self-sabotage

Ignored all the writings on the walls, tissue paper love and lionhearted pride

Your unchangeable nature, my bad alchemy; were we ever just a mirage?

Fought silent wars waged on foreign shores, failure to forget and forgive cast aside

Still loving your flaws and imperfections; but your golden gilding was so blinding

Perilous loyalty and glorious stubbornness, what a pair we portrayed

You denied reason as resolutely as you loved, but it was ego talking

I stood by you even as you refused to take part; oh, my foolish faith misplaced

Picking at the scars 'till they bled sorrow and rage—a spectacular fall from grace

Dear brother, my soul’s counterpart, you stole me from your own heart; our bond made the blade

My love is devoid of blame, absent of fault, lacking bitterness without a trace

The sword of retribution has two edges and two ends; I stand not with its crusade

You are not your mistakes and I refuse to remain your victim; Burdenless dove,

Clever artifices and manipulative devices, never once did I partake

Haven’t we paid enough for our suffering? I’d do it all again for love

I’ll still love you even as I go, can’t you let your heart know? Bend but never break

But let love be the salve on our weeping wounds; no one can remain unforgiven

Poisonous hatred seeping in; grief and pain are your name, mine my father’s glory

Was the price of making your point worth all that we had? Catastrophic attrition

I’d rather accept what’s done and keep loving you instead; memento mori

Not enemies but brothers, bound in love but not blood; such a dangerous tightrope

My impossible adversary; You were my sunlight and your heart was my gain

Resentment can never fill a hungry stomach, and revenge is such a steep slope

Don’t stand alone at the end, knowing too late the pointless cost of such pain

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