POLYXENA
02 / 16

The Damn Horse

Listen to the warners!

Lyrics

There it stands. Pales the sun.
I dislike it at once.
As monstrous it is as –
The silence around.
No Greek in our sight.

They vanished, they burnt
Their camps on the shore.
Some voice inside me
Can’t stop I to repeat:

The damn horse.
You damn horse.
You big lie.
You damn gift.
The damn horse.

Cheap it is. Brutal too.
How could that please Gods?
My aunt warns you, father!
My sister attacks it,
And so does the priest.

He warned you so sternly,
you punished him, fools!
Some voice inside them
won’t stop to repeat:

The damn horse.
You damn horse.
You big lie.
You damn gift.
The damn horse.

Why didn’t you sense it?
Don’t open the doors!
Ten years had to pass
‘til you opened the doors.
For death, not for freedom!
How could you not see?

About this song

As the Greeks appear to abandon the siege of Troy, they leave behind a gigantic wooden horse as a supposed offering to the gods. While many celebrate the end of the war, the women of Troy sense the danger hidden beneath the gift. Their warnings echo those of Cassandra and the priest Laocoön, yet they are ignored. The song explores the anguish of seeing disaster long before it unfolds and the frustration of knowing that intuition, especially when voiced by women, is too often dismissed. Sometimes the greatest tragedies begin with the refusal to listen.

Credits

Music: Christian Mair
Lyrics: Anna Luca Poloni

Vocals: Anna Luca Poloni
Guitar, programming, backing vocals: Christian Mair