day 9 - nepenthes (late)
day 9 - nepenthes
by tophie palmer
#napowrimo2026, Apr 9 (late)
o, nepenthes! o, anodyne vases!
o, holder of fair helen’s heart’s-ease, brewed
for that belligerent but tearful fool,
that leader of the greeks, menelaus,
who led his petty war with ancient troy.
helen helped him with nepenthe after:
that egyptian drug of forgetfulness
absolved him of his guilt, removed his grief.
but, monkey cup, how long have you caught prey
so perched on this long green trickster's tendril?
o, deadly catcher on my windowsill!
your slick viscous juice traps bugs and bad dreams,
voluptuous vase, broad vegetable lips,
broad lush sweet sickly lips eager and gaped,
luring your prey down to a drowning death,
where a forgetful oblivion waits.
o, sad sorrow trap! o, forgetful trap!
o, nepenthe! your obliviate cure
removes our grief with such ungainly cost:
grief will seize the heart that loves; what’s been lost
is still too dear, loved too much, to let go.
people are too quick to deny their grief,
but forgetting grief is no healthy start
because love lives on in the grieving heart.
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