My estranged brothers stood at my walls,
and rather than speak of our quarrels,
instead they closed their minds to reason,
and took up the heavier burden of war.

For war grinds down all in the city,
The quarrels of princes become magnified,
A slighting word from their lofty position,
tumbles down the inclined streets,

gaining speed, and drawing others to the cause
until the pebble tossed has become a cascade
of stones, earth and even boulders bent
to the will of one small word, and one small man.

And when the perched edifice comes rolling,
aiming for my gates with purpose sinister,
I shall stand at the point of impact and shelter
those that have run behind me for sanctuary.

I cannot stand forever against the tide,
I cannot stand forever against my fellows,
but I endure. For I must. Each night I hide
my fears in embraces, and remember why my son shrinks

in righteous loathing of my helm's crest terrible.
I expect no perfection from those that tend
to my wounds of heart. My wife too suffers from the war,
for she binds the rents in my mind's armor,

And gently soothes the bruises to my soul.
It is a long and frightening task to do so,
and I begrudge her not her caresses of others,
for she too has need of a healer's touch.

So when Achilles challenged, I took up my spear,
and I fled. I admit that I could stand no longer
until a moment, rounding the walls for a second time,
when my eyes lighted on the rampart, and I saw her.

And I saw Helen embrace Andromache, and knew that she would live
if I were to fall. And I turned to face the wave.
And it washed over me. Breaking me. Cast against the stone.
And I died. With my final thought to my loves and my family.

With no regret. For it was for them I lived, and if
for one moment I could grant them respite from
this punishment that man stupidly inflicts upon himself,
I would take the place of Atlas, knowing full well I would fail.

Do not weep for me, though I bled dry on the field.
Remember why I stood in the place of my brother,
I seek not the fields and the company of men who delight
in the glory that is rained upon their name.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoDh_gHDvkk]