[To an army wife, in Sardis...]

To an army wife, in Sardis:
 
Some say a cavalry corps,
some infantry, some, again,
will maintain that the swift oars
 
of our fleet are the finest
sight on dark earth; but I say
that whatever one loves, is.
 
This is easily proved: did
not Helen—she who had scanned
the flower of the world’s manhood—
 
choose as first among men one
who laid Troy’s honor in ruin?
warped to his will, forgetting
 
love due her own blood, her own
child, she wandered far with him.
So Anactoria, although you
 
being far away forget us,
the dear sound of your footstep
and light glancing in your eyes
 
would move me more than glitter
of Lydian horse or armored
tread of mainland infantry