Timeo Danaos et Dona Ferentes - New Version

The future haunts my sleepless eyes,
With sights unwelcomely perceived;
A vengeful torment cursed on me …
To know – but never be believed.

I tell of an empyrean scheme,
That trapped a vain and venal boy,
Whose lust for mortal beauty roused
The Furies, eager to destroy.

A shattered body dragged through dust
Was omen for the truth to be;
But mother mourns her murdered son,
And listens not to prophesy.

Poseidon has reclaimed the tides,
No tethered ships lie on the shore;
The wind though tells a different tale,
For naught is as it was before.

The looming shapes of topless towers,
Cast shadows on my heart’s demesne;
Deliverance was but a dream,
And I shall never dream again.

The old man speaks with rattling breath,
The war long fought has taxed him great;
Now spirit weak, I think he knows,
The Gods have doomed us to this fate.

The gate is closed, the realm secure;
To treachery, men give no pause;
So sentries slumber at their posts,
And I alone traverse the walls.

Now all seems quiet in the night,
Yet horror’s grip – it never lifts;
The horse stands silent in the square …
I fear the Greeks when bearing gifts.