Not long after the mad dash from dull Sparta

            Across the delirious seas,

            Paris began to notice that the women of Troy

            Also had lovely faces 

            Nor was the calm and handsomeness of Hector

            Lost on Helen

            But that was the least of it

            There was only so much ecstasy

            One could fit into a day

            Before it became a job

            So the lovers made a pact

            On the plains between

            The gathering ships of the Argives 

            And Priam’s fortress citadel,

            Bygones became bygones

            After a handshake and a wink, and

            Helen took the short cut back to Menelaus

            Thus Agamemnon’s wrath, Patroclus’ death, 

            The grief of Achilles, Hector’s desecration -

            They never came to pass

            She took the hint,

            I took to wandering again

            Though I confess

            There’s very little to write home about