This was meant to fill a prompt in the 2013 3 Sentence Ficathon, but it turned into a sonnet instead. Written for vialethe's prompt "Greek mythology, Aeneas + Helen, why you?"

Set after the events of Aeneid Book IV.


I blamed you for the vengeance of the Greek,
A city burnt to ashes for your sake;
But now I know the price that Fate can seek,
And I too have left fire in my wake.
Far better men than I, in simple truth,
Have glutted carrion-birds on Ilium's plain;
More virtuous wives than you died in their youth,
Or, living, suffer slavery's harsh pain.
Is 'pious' just another word to call
Obedience: to go where the gods drive?
They say my mother's will brought you to Troy.
Divine ones, is it useless after all
To ask why one was chosen to survive,
To ask why one was chosen to destroy?