A stone I marked with color as a girl,
and placed it upon a pillar with thanks,
and as I stand upon the beach it returns,
the paint stained with humors and blood.

Scattered are all my works. Burned is my home.
Murdered are my children, and mourned are them all.
I wait for a master to take up the leash
that has been placed upon my neck and I despair.

I knew what must be done, as did my daughter,
and yet when my counsel to my son was refused, I did not weep,
for I knew that would and must happen. I kept safe the offering
and when my husband asked advice again, I repeated my words.

When the Greeks returned, bearing my grandchild upon a shield,
I mourned. As did my son's wife. As did my son's love.
For the Greeks had taken something far more than one man,
they had taken the mask of civility and shattered it,

Dragging it behind their chariot as some god king of old.
In every action, they warned that this lay in wait for all,
should we not submit to the cruel and honorable yoke.
And our resolve became as stone, that they should fall.

My son avenged his brother, but that was not the end.
For no sooner had one screaming tyrant been routed,
than another cleverer took up the cause, and by trickery
slew my protectors, and carried off our protection.

They come to claim me and mine. For I am a great prize,
the mother of heroes, the mother of kings,
My children great adornments for the houses of plunderers,
who seek to legitimize their ambition with my blood.

Oh let him be not cruel, for I shall suffer what I must.
So much pain has been lived that another lash's sting,
is naught but a fly's buzzing. A mere annoyance to be flicked
away with a tail. I shall bow my head and accept.

But I shall growl as I do in warning. For should he falter
he will find my teeth at his throat, and all shall know
that I only repaid that which was due to him.
Let him serve as a piece of debris from this shattered vessel.

And let those that determine my fate remember the words
of fair Athena upon the field. For my son did not listen
to the truth that she whispered to him so long ago,
to his sorrow.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec729nmajwc]