Love Poem: Cassandra's Curse
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Written by: Jeanne Berger

Cassandra's Curse

She told no lies, from behind her all- seeing eyes.
Cassandra could not return the love of  Apollo,
 His curse upon her truth belies.
And left her prophesies empty and hollow.

She knew  the destruction of Troy would come.
Her  voice to land on the ears of disbelief,
It was truth she spoke to become
The Greeks emerge victorious, Troy is led to grief.

The daughter of an ancient Trojan king
Her  beauty must have been abounding
For the love of such a powerful god to bring
Apollo’s gift to her was astounding.

The gift to see all the matters to come
But love for him she  could not conceive
From a gift to a curse it would become
For her prophecies, no one would believe.

She would rave the truths along the walls of Troy;
As a mad woman she was perceived by all.
Her father. King Priam. her ranting would annoy
She was imprisoned, that her word would not befall.

She knew of a child that would seal the cities fate,
His name ,Paris, left for wolves to raise.
He would come to take his love and her king to berate.
A thousand ships, Helen’s face,  to them she betrays
.
As she watched the burning skies
Soldiers spilled form the bowels of the gift horse
Tears were  streaming from her eyes
As  she had told,  the Greeks ran their course

Amidst the cities destruction
Cassandra was free from the prison walls
Hoping to avert a further abduction
She took refuge in Athena’s halls

Unaware of the hidden peril waiting
She did not see Ajax the Greek
Standing adorned in amour plating
He raped and took her, her spirits bleak

Taken to Mycenea to become a concubine,
Of the Mycenean king, Agamemnon.
Of who her life was to entwine,
A rivalry with the queen this would spawn.

Cassandra tried to warn the king,
To deny the queen’s request. 
To walk a purple carpet, its sacrilege  to bring,
Both were stabbed upon their chest.

Cassandra’s fate was undeserved.
A victim of her gift and her torment.
Of which she powerlessly served,
Of which was  her solemn discontent.