Achilles’ Heel

My blog, Achilles’ Heel, is about the intricacies of the finer aspects of life; the mistakes and dark side of us humans, and the apparent paradoxically grey ones too. It is all freelance, comes and goes in a flow, and is mostly poetry (My first abiotic love!).

The Legend Of Achilles
In Greek mythology, when Achilles was a baby, it was foretold that he would die young.
To prevent his death, his mother, Thetis, took Achilles to the river Styx, which was supposed to offer powers of invulnerability, and dipped his body into the water; however, as Thetis held Achilles by the heel, his heel was not washed over by the water of the magical river.
He became invulnerable wherever the water touched him- that is, everywhere except his right heel, that was covered by her thumb and forefinger.

Achilles grew up to be a man of war, who survived many a great battle. He was said to have died from a wound to his heel, which was the result of a poisoned arrow- shot by Paris during the War of Troy.

Why Achilles’ Heel ?
Although it sounds extremely pessimistic, the melancholy and bitter truths of the world we live in and face everyday seldom elude my conscience.

Achilles, the great warrior could never be defeated; his opponents were doomed to face his wrath. He was majestic, elegant, and fearless; but even the best had a weak point to be tarnished, and to him it was his heel.

We as a society- are so superior and seemingly undisputed.
‘Our lives are beautiful’, this has been stressed upon time and again; but we seldom fathom that happiness is so prized a possession, for sadness exists.
Perhaps a glance through these bitter sweet truths will make us more grateful, or atleast render us a new perspective.

At times, we are so vain, little do we realise of how oblivious we are of this delusion.
All of us, we have our insecurities and assets. Paris was not justified in taking Achilles’ life away, yet we focus on wars as though a certainty of death.

All the same, I believe and ask myself-
Was it mere destiny? Is all this just a humorous play to somebody up there, for our liabilities and fears are so amusing, or maybe we are doomed to be human now and forever…

Nevertheless we are grey, a paradox and a mélange of the good, bad and ugly. And this is it, this our Herculean Arm and this is our Achilles’ Heel.

I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did blogging.

Happy reading!

Ana

© achillesheelpoetry, 2020