The Destiny Foreseen

By Sunavya Kaur Pahwa

Inspired by the Greek Myth of Cassandra 

Through my eyes, the future I saw,

But soon, my abilities began to gnaw... 

The gift I had, was turned into a curse, 

Explaining which, I write this verse... 

Beloved I was, of the God Apollo, 

But with him, instead of feeling happy and full, I felt hollow... 

It was he, who blessed me with my eyes foreseeing, 

It was he, who made me an important figure; a worshipped being... 

To Sybil, a wish was granted by Apollo, which had turned into a curse, 

Unlike her, I was given an unasked for gift which had turned inverse...

To Apollo I had promised favours a few,

For I was his priestess and he was my God old and new…

Though at fault I will remain,

The disbelief and anger for Apollo forever I shall retain…  

My all seeing eyes, for others became deceiving, 

And in my own act, I sat grieving... 

Had I done wrong? Was I guilty? Was I being unreasonable? 

Did I have to become, like other women, amenable? 

Apollo had ruined my gift of prophecy, Apollo had ruined me, 

Dirt began piling on my name and I was beginning to look like old debris... 

Was I to be blamed to have lost my gift?

Partially, but now how could I at myself be miffed? 

Clearly, it was Apollo who had done this, but to my surprise, 

Again like my prophecies, no one understood my despise...

During the Trojan War, to my people a warning I gave,

That Greek soldiers from the Trojan Horse would rise and put Troy in a danger grave…

Ignoring my wishes, their feasts and celebrations they happily carried on, 

To bust the Horse with an axe I ran, but stopped as men thought that I was weak as a fawn, 

After the war ended, away I went according to a decision hasty,

In Wisdom’s Home I thought I had found safety…

But after being raped there by a Greek, a warrior, the great Ajax, 

In Agamemnon’s ship as a concubine I was thrown like a guilty’s tax…

Agamemnon’s wishes of returning to Greece I knew already, though then I had not warned,

“Killed you will be laying in a pool of blood our own, an axe to my heart too, by a woman

ward…”

“Prepare the fleet to leave for Greece at dawn!” he ordered, his voice restrained,

I could not tell him then his welcome by his confidante would be feigned… 

On a vast ship for just little time, happy and gleeful along with Agamemnon I remained,

The warning of our deaths in my subconscious repeated again, and again, and again…

After Agamemnon’s shrieks for help and painful death, 

I knew I was to be the next to breathe my last breath…

Taking off the symbols of oracular powers, I stopped to mourn,  

Thus to my demise, I walked like it was just another dawn…

As I relived my life in the last moments, I realised how cruel it was... 

Apollo loved and hated, laughed and cried, all for his own cause...

By Sunavya Kaur Pahwa