A Thousand Ships: A Poetic Trilogy

Song for a Myrmidon

A thousand ships sail with you my son
To a foreign land and endless beaches of sand.
My arms I gave you when you did depart
But my heart was not yet ready to let you go
Even with the promise you’d return
Made immortal by a song that would be sung
For all eternity, by souls never known to you and me.
If this be immortality, come back home to me I plead —
So we can sing and dance once more under the sun
And I can say to you again: I love you, my son.

Helen’s Lament

A thousand ships sail for me
Stretching as far as my eyes can see.
Many men left their beds
Because of something Agamemnon said.
Many sons and daughters their father they will no longer see,
All because of Zeus, Paris, and worst of all, me.

Ithaca

A thousand ships sailed for her, including I
Who prayed to the gods not to die.
For ten long years I kept you near in my heart and mind
Thinking of past times when I held you in my arms
And we sailed those peaceful seas guided by the stars.
Inside that wooden horse whom the Trojans
Thought was a gift from the gods, I prayed not
To Zeus but thought only of you.
When the storm of this war came to an end
A thousand ships sailed not back home,
Many friends I buried among the dead
Followed by all my surviving countrymen.

For the longest time my heart ached for you when I was alone
But now my heart beats with hope as I see the shore of our home.

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