The Pyre of Hector

Chris Ellery

March 3, 2022

Fire changes flesh

into purity 

beyond corruption, 

beyond the teeth 

of wolves and rodents

and the beaks of birds,

beyond the trowels and brushes

of some distant dig 

in Ilion, 

where future warriors 

of academe (besieged city 

of science, art, and history) 

sift the bones and broken pottery, 

contending for merit 

in the dry remains.

A hero, fallen, should not

become

the feast of worms. 

Ash is meat 

immune

from further decomposing.

Hence, my father, before all gods, 

makes peace 

with my destroyer. 

They too

will know the burning

and relief.

Chris Ellery is author of five poetry collections, most recently Canticles of the Body and Elder Tree. A member of the Texas Institute of Letters, he has received the X.J. Kennedy Award for Creative Nonfiction, the Dora and Alexander Raynes Prize for Poetry, and the Betsy Colquitt Award.