Dear Alcestis,
You are
an ancient feminist
an empowered woman trapped in a world of patriarchy.

From the beginning you were dismissed, resigned to be chattel.
You were ordered, pushed, directed by the males around you to latch on.
Ensnare him in a your feminine web.
You're not strong enough alone.
You're just a woman.
Why should you-
Stop.

You find it all in Him:
Shock, love, strength
you are finally balanced, equal.
You are happy.
But Fate holds a bed of snakes for the forgetful and He is stolen from you.
Apollo cannot help you now, and you see only one option.

Once again a primal privilege arises,
But you must win, you must succeed.
You sneak away, so desperate to see the world, be the change, be the solution for once, you sacrifice yourself-
Hades.
You are floating, falling, frightened-
Stop.

All you know is-
Someone carrying you away, rushing-
Stop.
You are handed back to Him- you are limp,
helpless.
You are more than that.
**** Hercules.

You are the distressed princess, the fair maiden, and still the hero of your own story.

Past ruined Ilion Helen lives,
Alcestis rises from the shades.
Verse calls them forth; 'tis verse that gives
Immortal youth to mortal maids.

Soon shall oblivion's deepening veil
Hide all the peopled hills you see,
The gay, the proud, while lovers hail
These many summers you and me.

XXIII

Methought I saw my late espousèd saint
Brought to me, like Alcestis, from the grave,
Whom Jove’s great son to her glad husband gave,
Rescued from death by force, though pale and faint.
Mine, as whom washed from spot of child-bed taint
Purification in the Old Law did save,
And such, as yet once more I trust to have
Full sight of her in Heav’n without restraint,
Came vested all in white, pure as her mind:
Her face was veiled, yet to my fancied sight
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined
So clear, as in no face with more delight.
But O, as to embrace me she inclined,
I waked, she fled, and day brought back my night.

I have taken alcestis’ place many times
Sighed for her and said I’ll go instead
Moved heaven and earth
Torn death screaming from its place
So others might walk once more in the sun
And so I might what?
Ah, so I might.
It would be good to stop living and dying for someone else
To quell this rhythm
“Do it for them, do it for them,”
That makes such an irregular heartbeat
Too strange to straighten a body
And would they understand what I had done for them before?
Ah, so they might.