Mirth through Trojan halls was ringing
Ere succumbed the fortress bold;
Hymns of joy the bards are singing
To the harpists' strings of gold.
Men their weapons are forsaking,
Thoughts of battle lay aside,
Peleus' mighty son is taking
Priam's daughter for his bride.

Laurel every brow is binding,
And the crowd in surging bands
To the holy fanes is winding
Where the Thymbrian altar stands.
Vaguely humming, wildly heaving,
Sweeps the Bacchanalian host
Down the lanes and alleys, leaving
One sad heart in sorrow lost.

Joyless 'mid the joy prevailing,
Silent, did Cassandra rove,
And from human presence quailing,
Sought Apollo's laurel grove.
In the forest's dark recesses
Found the Priestess a retreat,
Tore the fillet from her tresses,
Crushed it grimly 'neath her feet.

" Happiness in ample measure
To all other hearts is weighed;
My old parents find new pleasure,
Gay my sister stands arrayed.
But o'er me there ever lowers
Gloom, all sweet illusion flies,
And I see these hoary towers
Crumble with prophetic eyes.

" I can see a torch-light glowing,
But 'tis not in Hymen's hand;
Up to heaven I see it growing,
But no sacrificial brand.
Feasts I see in preparation,
Then th' approaching God I feel,
And with horrid fascination
Mark the blows he grieves to deal.

" And they mock my bitter anguish,
And they cavil at my grief.
All alone my heart must languish,
Solitude my one relief.
By no glad acquaintance greeted,
Scorned by every joyous band,
Truly, I am sore entreated,
Harsh Apollo, by thine hand.

" Why should I — ah! cruel mission —
Thy dark oracles expound,
And unfold my prescient vision
To a town in darkness bound?
Why should I see prematurely
Evils I can not allay?
Fate's decrees are fashioned surely,
What we fear we can not stay

" Is it well, impending terror
To expose, the veil to raise?
Human life is nought but error,
Knowledge only Death conveys,
Take, ah! take this penetration
From my eyes which probe too deep.
Ill it suits my mortal station
Secret thy dread truths to keep.

" Give, ah! give me back my blindness,
Let me in the gloom rejoice!
I have sung no human kindness
While the mouthpiece of thy choice.
True, the future thou dost grant me,
But the present says me nay.
Sere is life which should enchant me:
Take thy cursed gift away!

" Never have my locks been plaited
In their bridal garb again
Since my life I consecrated
To thy melancholy fane.
Youth for me was void of gladness,
Grief and pain were all my share,
And my dear ones' every sadness
Brought my gentle heart despair.

" See, my playmates are contented,
All around me loves and lives;
Joy is everywhere presented,
Mine the only heart that grieves.
Spring brings me no satisfaction
Though the earth its glories cheer.
Who in life can find distraction
If beneath its depths he peer?

" E'en in her deluded yearning,
Blest Polyxene I hold,
Who the noblest Greek is burning
In her bridal clasp to fold.
Proudly is her bosom heaving,
Scarce her rapture she conceals;
And, in her fond dream believing,
For no heavenly boon appeals.

" And I too have been permitted
On my chosen one to gaze,
Marked the suppliant glance which flitted
From his eye with loving blaze.
Nought my spouse from me should sever,
Toying in my home serene: —
But a Stygian shade would ever
Nightly thrust itself between.

" All her pale-faced spectres yonder
Dark Proserpina doth bring,
And where'er my footsteps wander
Hordes of ghosts around me cling.
In the sports of childhood nimbly
Gambolling, my path they chain
In a horrid, grim assembly!
Never can I smile again!

" Lo! the blade is elevated,
And the murderous eyes I see;
By my terror fascinated,
If I would, I can not, flee.
And I can not look behind me,
Calmly seeing, hearing all;
Conscious of the fates which bind me
In an alien land to fall.

Still her doleful words were ringing
When a murmuring clamour spread,
From the distant temple springing: —
Thetis' mighty son lay dead!
Eris shakes her snaky tresses,
All the Gods in haste are gone,
And the angry storm-cloud presses
On devoted Ilion.