Agamemnon Poem by David Plantinga

King Agamemnon raised a wind
When the whole fleet had lain becalmed.
He'd sacrificed, and hadn't qualmed.
From horror he could not rescind.
His wife has taken the loss badly.
Not even kings can lessen grief,
Or render the bereft relief.
He'd give his life for hers, and gladly.
And jealousy has made it worse.
The girl is a much younger mate,
But looks and youth can't replicate
A marriage sorrow can't reverse.
Any captive's understandably
A little skittish at the first.
They say she's mad, that she's been cursed
With visions of the things to be.
Shamans love to peddle threats
And when the worst misfortune hits
They preen like fortune's favorites.
And they alone have no regrets.
He had refused a wheedling fraud.
And then a bunch of men got sick.
Confronted by a lunatic,
He'd given in, resigned unawed.
A warlord doesn't quake from fear
Because a foreign princess whines.
Him frightened by his concubines?
The girl's annoying but sincere.