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The sun is going down.
Helius is west away
abandoning the day.
Robbed from the embers of your home....
Out of the fire and
into this dying land....
There'll be no funeral for you
for no-
It's the 13th day of the year.
January 13th
As light begins to fade
defeated spoils of war
a silhouette before the Lion Gate
casts aside her garlands
A stranger here enchained
alone
forced to intrude
in someone else's feud....
The conquering king is dead.
He won eternal fame
but I forget his name, and not yours.
You cast aside your garlands.
One by one the torches flicker and they fail.
A woman clad in ragged robes is kneeling.
Done is her defiant dance.
Persephone awaits.
A foreign slave is sacrificed.
And one by one the torches flicker and they fail.
A woman clad in ragged robes is kneeling.
Done is her defiant dance.
Persephone awaits.
A foreign slave is sacrificed.
One by one the candles flicker and they fail.
A figure clutched by shadows is still.
Done is your defiant dance.
Now Hecate awaits.
Cassandra's spark goes out.
Commentary
Some of the imagery in the early part of this song draws on Cassandra’s
beautiful exit speech in Aeschylus’s ancient Greek play “Agamemnon” (written 458
BCE). The ‘defiant dance’ references Cassandra’s entrance scene in Euripides’ “Women
of Troy”, written 43 years later.
Robert Graves, who wrote extensively on the Greek myths & legends theorised that
Agamemnon (and with him Cassandra) may have been killed as part of a ritual sacrifice
on the 13th day of the 13th month as part of the White/Triple Goddess ancient religion
which preceded the more familiar Greek pantheon. From this I derived the date of
January 13th as being the date of her death. It was only some years later that I
realised my error -
Composer: Ed Hooke
Date of Composition/Copyright: 1995
Date of Recording: 1995