AGAMEMNON - LORD OF ASHES

“Count the ships. Count the kings who answered. Count the gold beneath Mycenae. Then speak my name.” I was the hand that gathered Greece as one, The voice that made a hundred banners rise. Kings brought their bronze and placed it at my feet, And watched my signal darken all the skies. My halls were fed by rivers made of gold, My lions guarded gates no man could claim. From Argos to the edge of every sea, The world grew still beneath my father’s name. No throne was built to stand beside my own, No crown was forged to weigh against my will. The wind itself refused our ships the road— So I gave blood, and made the heavens still. I am the king of kings, The gold of Atreus in my veins. I raised the storm, I broke the walls, I taught the world to fear my name. I am the lord of ships and spears, The hand that set ten thousand fires. But every crown is cast in blood, And every throne inherits pyres. They speak her name as though I had a choice, As though a king may kneel before the wind. A father wept; the commander gave the word. The fleet moved on. The war could now begin. Let lesser men be prisoners of grief. A kingdom dies when rulers hesitate. I buried tenderness beneath the shore And called the silence discipline and fate. Then Achilles challenged order for a prize, As if one warrior stood above the crown. I did not cross the sea to share command. The greatest must remind the great: bow down. Ten years the towers mocked the gathered kings. Ten years the beaches drank the blood of men. The horse went through where armies could not pass— And Troy became the proof that I would win. I am the king of kings, The gold of Atreus in my veins. I crossed the sea, I broke the walls, And brought their ashes home in chains. I am the lord of ships and spears, No god denied what I desired. Yet every crown is cast in blood, And mine was forged in funeral fire. “The house remembers.” “The blood returns.” “The purple waits.” I came from Troy with victory at heel, With bronze, with captives, with immortal fame. My queen unrolled the purple at my feet— A road no mortal king should dare to claim. And yet I stepped where only gods should tread. What god would punish one who conquered fate? The doors stood wide. The torches bent like servants. My palace bowed and welcomed home the great. I was the king of kings, The gold of Atreus in my veins. I broke the walls, I ruled the war— But could not rule the blood I gave. I was the lord of ships and spears, The hand that made the nations kneel. Yet no command could stop the blade My own house taught itself to wield. The purple darkened underfoot, The palace closed above my cries. I came from Troy as lord of men— And entered home as sacrifice. “I commanded every king beneath the sun. But not the hatred waiting in my home.” “The house remembers.”