Briseis Facing the Day, by Elaine Kennedy

Achilles' surrender of Briseis to Agamemnon, House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii, artist not known (Italy) c. 1st century AD

​Briseis Facing the Day
 
She stands held, like a captive, in Achilles’ camp
Peering askance at the charred plains and sparkling sea
At the death and destruction, at the waves and the unknown
Her fragile beauty draped in shivering white silk
As sweaty soldiers and heralds clang about at her back
 
She’s again to be taken, to be surrendered as a prize
Like Helen was to Paris, on that fateful night
She draws her gown tight, the sole woman in sight
Loath to go, as Achilles has become all that she knows
 
Achilles sits there, dishonoured and dispossessed
With a glare in his eyes and a scowl on his lips
Attended at his seat by his caring tutor and friend
His brother to deliver her in his stead, he unable to do the deed
Yet his brother turns to link them, with arm, eye and hand
 
Briseis, steadfast yet downcast, alone meets the viewer’s gaze
Offering a window into her quivering heart
While her mind travels back, she’s determined to live on
She, too, was dishonoured and dispossessed
Her husband and brothers killed and she carried off
Yet she came to find that life with Achilles flowed on
As in his mother’s realm of the unfathomable sea
 
Elaine Kennedy

A native of Toronto, Elaine Kennedy studied English literature, French language and civilization as well as translation in North America and Europe. She has worked as a translator, writer and editor in the cultural and academic sectors. Today, she devotes much of her time to literary translation. Her work has won the 3Macs carte blanche Prize and has been shortlisted for the Toronto Book Awards and the International Book Awards in the Multicultural Fiction category. After living in Montreal for many years, she recently moved to Victoria.