(NOTE: Refreshed English is used in this post.)
Monologue Title: “War!”
From the Play: No More Trojan Wennen, Act I, Scene 1
Genre: Drama
Author: Justy DeForest
Character: Apollo, Olympian God of Reason
Setting: Above the ramparts of the ruined palace of Ancient Troy
Background: After the defeat of the Trojan Army, the Greek Commander, Agamemnon, decides to slaughter the remaining Trojan Wennen if the resist being carried off to Greece as slaves. In this monologue, Apollo, the Olympian Godde of Reason and Patron of Troy, looks over his ruined city from above the palace ramparts at daybreak and laments the futility of humin battles.
APOLLO
War! — The great misuse of bronze and bodies,
of minds and machinations.
A cunning predator with glaring eyes and awful screech
whose swoop spreads terror and confusion among its prey.
A compassionless beast
whose day is night,
whose love and fuel is hate,
whose pleasure is destruction!
Now it rests.
And what has it left you, my city?
I, your God, Apollo, ask,
who, along with water-ruling Poseidon,
built up your walls so long ago,
stones now charred by hatred’s torch
lit by humin hands.
How ominous is this quiet!
Breathless as the hare
before the hawk’s descent.
You are merely between hunts!
A long night has passed;
a long night’s to follow.
And between —
so little daylight for my people.
© Justy DeForest 1987, 2008, 2021
- Godde: (Pronounced God, plural Goddes, pronounced Gods) Gender neuter term for a deity or deities of any gender or none.)
If You Liked This Apollo Monologue…
Make sure to check out the Olympian God of Reason’s “The Eyes of God” monologue. Find it on the Voices from Troy Series 1 link, Number 12.
Greetings from Justicea 