[Intro – funeral drums, organ intro] [Verse 1] The fires burn low on the Trojan plain The songs of grief still ride the wind Old Hector sleeps beneath the stone And kings return to dust again I am the singer with sightless eyes An old man walking where memory lies Yet I have seen what the blind may know— The rise of pride and the fall below Bronze once thundered across this land Heroes carved their names in sand But glory fades where the ashes lie And every kingdom must someday die They fought for honor, they fought for fame For wounded pride and a stolen name Yet deeper still beneath the flame The seeds of ruin already came [Bridge – slower] [Verse 2] A prince who chose a fatal prize A king who dreamed of conquering skies A warrior ruled by burning rage All writing fate upon history’s page For cities fall not only by spear But by the pride that men hold dear The fire that warriors think they command Is often the torch that burns their land [Final Verse] Yet listen well while the lyre still sings Of doomed bright cities and tragic kings For though the towers of Troy may fall The song of Troy outlives them all And every age will hear again Of love and war and the pride of men For as long as voices shape the flame The world will remember the Trojan name [Outro – spoken] Sing it forward… So the living may learn From the ashes of kings. A Thousand Ships [Spoken Word Poetry Reading Intro] A thousand ships on the wine-dark sea A thousand spears for the world to see Kings of the islands, kings of the land All of them march at one command A thousand ships and the oars all rise Storm of bronze on the eastern skies Troy will burn before we’re done The kings of Greece are marching as one [Instrument Guitar and Hammand Organ] [Verse 1 – Agamemnon] Look at the fleet on the edge of the foam E very warlord sworn to my throne Kings of the islands, lords of the plain All bend the knee when I speak their name I pulled the tribes from the mountains and shore Forged them together for conquest and war Now every banner is riding my wind Every crown in the Aegean pinned They call me king of the kings tonight Master of bronze and breaker of might Troy is a prize and the world will see No throne on earth standing over me [Hook] A thousand ships on the wine-dark sea Storm of iron and destiny Raise the sails and beat the drum The war for Troy has just begun [Verse 2 – Agamemnon] Menelaus crying like a wounded child “My stolen queen has run off wild” Paris the prince with a thief’s embrace Carried her off from the Spartan place Brother, your grief is a useful thing It gives me the war that will make me king Gold in the temples, crowns in the sand Every kingdom under my hand Look at my army, the best ever born Achilles the swift with the goddess blood sworn Ajax the giant with axe in hand A mountain of bronze in the battle’s command Odysseus cunning with ten thousand schemes King of the rocks and the shifting seas Every great hero answering me The world will bow to the kings of the sea [Bridge – Sung, darker] But the wind would not rise And the gods would not hear Till a father laid down What a father holds dear [Verse 3 – quieter, bitter] Iphigenia, Daughter of mine The altar was silent, the blade was bright Priests in the smoke of the morning light A king must pay what the gods demand Even the blood of his own young hand The wind came howling across the foam The fleet set sail and we left our home History bends to the will of the strong And the weak are the ones who mourn [Final Chorus] A thousand ships on the wine-dark sea War drums pounding destiny Raise the sails and let them run Troy will fall before the sun A thousand ships and the kings all cry Glory in bronze before we die Storm of iron across the foam The world will kneel before my throne [Outro – spoken, cold] Sail east.
