Is your shrine a shelter for girls to train
in the craft of war? have you sent mothers
in bronze to battle? Are the names of slain
sisters, etched in stone, preserved? Warriors
like my aunt, whom they once called Walking Death,
followed you; forgive me for presuming.
I have followed you, too, felt the sword’s breath
arch down upon my bowed neck, felt the sting,
great, fierce, strong—you are hand-swung—of others
who have perished. Celano and Phoebe
fell by your side. Their names are forgotten.
Soon mine will be too. I’ll be no sister’s
pride, no walking death’s child. I am sorry.
My aunts are dead. My mothers have fallen.

][][

note:

In Greek myth Eurybe was an Amazon who was a master with a spear, fighting with her shield-guards, Phoebe and Celano. Unfortunately, all three were killed by Hercules, when their spears broke against the lion’s skin from his 1st Labor. Legend has it that they were all killed with a single sword stroke. Her name means “Grand Strength.”