A BALLAD OF THE FALL OF KNOSSOS
(Circa 1400 B.C.)
Is it a whisper that runs through the galleries?
Is it a rustle that stirs in the halls?
Is it of mortals, or things that are otherwise
This sound that so haltingly, dreadfully falls,
Pauses, and hurries, and falls?
No moon, and no torches; not even a glimmer
To pin-prick the darkness that weighs like a sin,
And nothing is breathing, and nothing is stirring,
And hushed are the small owls without, and within
The mice to their holes have run in.
It is not the step of a foot on the pavement;
It is not the brush of a wing through the air;
It is not a passing, it is not a presence,
But the ghost of the fate that this palace must bear,
Of the ruin of Knossos goes there.
*****
For on such a night, when the moon is dark,
And all of the stars are dumb,
With a sudden flare by the sea-ward gate
Shall the doom of Knossos come;
For a cry will shatter the brooding hush,
And the crickets and mice shall wake
To clatter and clash and shout and cry,
And the stumble of frenzied feet going by
Death's stride will overtake.
For into the glare of a new-lit torch
That shakes in a shaking grasp,
Sweat-streaked, wild-eyed, and dark with blood
Shall a runner break, and gasp
Of a burning harbour, of silent ships,
Of men sprung out of the night—
Is it men or devils?—He moans, and reels
Shoulder to wall, and a red stain steals
Down the frescoes gay and bright.
And hard on the word they hear approach
The surge of the battle near,
And to whistle of arrows, and clang of bronze
The palace awakes in fear.
Light! Light! and torches, like waking eyes
Leap from each darkened door;
And the guard at the sea-ward gate go down
In the vast black sea of men, and drown,
While sweeps the torrent o'er.
What door shall hold, or what walls withstand
The roll of a full spring-tide,
With an on-shore wind? And the gates of bronze
Ring, rock, and are flung aside;
And a myriad unknown raiders burst
Into the hall of the King,
Where Minos on his carved, stone seat
Beheld the nations at his feet,
Watched each its tribute bring.