he is half of my soul, as the poets say.

I like to center my NaPo themes around a book or story that impacted my life. In the past, I have done 'Pet Semetary' by Stephen King and "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. For this NaPo week, I will be focusing on "The Song of Achilles," written by Madeline Miller. I read this book a couple of months ago, and it made a big impression on me.

The Song of Achilles is a retelling of the Trojan War. It is written from the perspective of Patroclus. It follows his relationship with Achilles from childhood to adulthood, to death. Besides the brilliant story, this book really impacted me because of the deep love story that it portrays. Thank you for stopping by, he is half of my soul, as the poets say. Comments welcome and feedback is appreciated!

Italized text in titles and poems are direct quotes from the book. Full credit to Madeline Miller for their incredible writing!

2024: the disease of overthinking.
2024 NaPo Week: sometimes dead is better.
2025: one loves the sunset when one is so sad.

I - I am made of memories.

II - I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.

III - I found myself grinning until my cheeks hurt, my scalp prickling till I thought it might lift off my head. My tongue ran away from me, giddy with freedom. This, and this, and this, I said to him. I did not have to fear that I spoke too much. I did not have to worry that I was too slender, or too slow. This and this and this! I taught him how to skip stones, and he taught me how to carve wood. I could feel every nerve in my body, every brush of air against my skin.

IV - I feel like I could eat the world raw.

V - In the darkness, two shadows, reaching through the hopeless, heavy dusk. Their hands meet, and light spills in a flood like a hundred golden urns pouring out of the sun.

VI - We were like gods at the dawning of the world, & our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but the other.

VII - When he died, all things soft and beautiful and bright would be buried with him.

Spoiler

Additional quotes:

- And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone.

- I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me.
If I had had words to speak such a thing, I would have. But there were none that seemed big enough for it, to hold that swelling truth.
As if he had heard me, he reached for my hand. I did not need to look; his fingers were etched into my memory, slender and petal-veined, strong and quick and never wrong.
“Patroclus,” he said. He was always better with words than I.

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