I know the stars by heart, the armies of the night, and there in the lead
the ones that bring us snow or the crops of summer,
bring us all we have -our great blazing kings of the sky,
I know them, when they rise and when they fall and now
I watch for the light, the signal-fire
breaking out of Troy, shouting Troy is taken.
So she commands, full of her high hopes.
That woman - she manoeuvres like a man.
And when I keep to my bed, soaked in dew,
and the thoughts go groping through the night
and the good dreams that used to guard my sleep... not here,
it's the old comrade, terror, at my neck. I mustn't sleep, no -
Shaking himself awake.
Look alive, sentry.
The watchman is on top of the building at his post, longing for the Greek army to come home. He has been on watch for so long that he memorized the patterns of the stars into sky. Waiting for the signal that Troy has been destroyed and he makes sure not to fall asleep.
Comments:
In Lines 5-6, we can see that the watchman has a feeling that his army has won. Also that they are the ones who bring "fruit" to the land, allowing it to prosper. In Lines 9, he is eager to see the beacon of light that will make him very happy. In Lines 17-19, he shakes himself awake to make sure he doesn't go to sleep, to miss the signal fire.