Be not astonished,
O, King;
at the perfidy of men
the eunuchs and slaves
of your glittering palace
have turned on you,
and crawl sniveling
at the feet of your conquerer
who swaggers through your streets
in dusty clothes
his sword unsheathed.
Here is your epitaph,
O ragged King;
at the fall of Ur,
your shining sceptre
covered in the fallen mortar,
your sons dead.
The poor,
that you despised
dancing
in the poisoned streets.
Was it not well done
fleeing from Alexander
the clang of his golden chains
clamped about your heels;
your archers fled to the hills.
The courtiers
who sang their lays to you
asleep in Hephaistion's lap?
Still, you say,
waiting for the Parade;
the fall of the Headsman's Axe,
"The weeds grow,
the wheel turns
and the legions
will wear away
in the dust and heat,
Posillipo."
Author notes
Posillipo- Greek, a pause from Pain.
Written December 14th, 2003
In a list
A contest entry
- What's Your OutLook On The War? by oneill.
300 points, ended July 4, 2006, 4 entries
Silver trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 34 of 34
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yep.
see rememberer i am. -
x
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Through out history there is record of the masses overthrowing the powers that be because of their callous disregard of human life. I do not see why leaders today think that they can rule with no thought as to what is best for those who follow. Maybe we should revisit the days of Marie and Louis.
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I am sorry to say that I found it very difficult to recite this poem. I am used to reciting poems with a steady meter or beat and this does not apply to Free verse. My sister on the other hand was only too able to get up and recite this in an appropriate manner. It was very good, but to me it was still not as good as the others. This is probably only due to my personal preference for rhythmic poetry and for that I apologize. It was a very good recital, you should have been there, thank you ever so much for letting me see it.
My Sister says:
“I love it!”
Edited on Jun 19, 2:34 because 'Typo'. -
Thank you for entering my contest. wish you good luck in the contest.
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yup
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The language in this poem is elegantly evocative, with a formal fluency that gives it a very classical feel. It is certainly fit to set before the king.
The poet ties the eternal truth of a fickle public back to the ancient world with an implicit link to the specifics of the Middle East today, holding the mirror of history up to modern events.
The imagery glistens with the ‘glittering palace’ and ‘shining sceptre’ and the vividness of the contrast with the ‘fallen mortar’ and the poor dancing in the ‘poisoned streets’. All this is done with specific, concrete images that describe real situations.
The strange word ‘posillipo’ is an oddity. A Greek friend is puzzled buy it. In Greek, ‘lipo’ means sorrow and ‘pausi’ translates as pause, but the combination as written isn’t something he recognises. Perhaps a problem in translating letters from the Greek to Latin alphabets?
The king, himself, has been given a stoic, philosophical voice that makes it entirely appropriate to let him have the last word and the imagery in the last section – natural events and the passing of time – with a specific tie in to the dust and heat of the ancient and modern world is entirely appropriate.
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And you wrote this before I even thought of the contest! Thanks for a challenging entry.
vic -
Nice choice, you have so many I thought appropriate. -
i wasn't gushing..
(okay...i always gush about lute's poetry but what i said was....nevermind.)
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Well Told
And so it is with the fall of every foolish ruler -- the rats scurry to curry favor with the next before the blood has even cooled.
This is a lovely exhumation. You've lovely wiped off the dust of centuries and fleshed the characters out nicely. History is full of the foolish who believed in power that did not shine quite as blindingly as they so fervently believed.
Cvillelisa sent me - gushing. And yes, t'was very good. Nice job. -
someone clicked here last night, i saw it on the bottom of my screen while i was reading nothing .. so i decided to bookmark it for today.. wait..i'm going to go back up and read it again..brb .. back .. clang and clamped are so good together. i've decided i like words with "l" as the second letter - sluice, slake, clamp, clang i think they make very good poem words.
230 reads on this wow. most i ever saw was Rolling Stone's Central Park Bitch poem - over 400. so how is the book coming? missing lute poems. yup.
all this up there is cool. i had a mesopotamia / sumaria / bablyonia fetish for some time. hamarobi's law and all that tigris and euphrates river cradle of mankind stuff. you are pretty damn good at this mixing up all the people and places stuff - must be the timelessness of your occupation.
well i guess i'll leave now.
cville -
True poem
That was amazing! This is a true poem..symbolic..very descriptive..I loved it! Keep up the awesome work!
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Your descriptions throughout are so vivid and easily seen--
"who swaggers through your streets
in dusty clothes
his sword unsheathed"
and I loved the "lap" line as well. The whole culture/king/triumph/proud being deposed feel is striking.
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this is really good!
i like the way you wrote it, it has great flow to it.
i love stories about kings and this one was amazing,
keep up the good writing! -
Also, I don't know if this poem aims to be historically correct but I could not find record of Alexander the Great (Hephaistion was his famous advisor/side-kick. A very interesting character!) ever conquering Ur. He conquered Mesopotamia (of which Ur was the ancient capital) but I think Ur was destroyed by that time. Can anyone shed more light on this? (I think having this background will surely contribute to appreciating this wonderfully interesting poem!)
Edited on Dec 18, 7:18 because ''. -
Amazing poem. You all know of course that the ancient city of Ur was located between the current Baghdad and the Persian Gulf. If this poem was really composed before Hussein's capture it's rather eerie.
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Smartass
Nostrodamus or whatever, your like him only more intelligent and probably more sexy LOL a wonderful write strange prediction.
Lakota -
WOW.
This is the best unrhyming amateur poem I have ever read. It is amazing. Especially if NOT related to current events... -
Gah! Another poem I don't understand, but like. o.O One of those poems where I can almost get what you're saying, and I like it.
Jade -
I am back ...
Well done, Poet ... you do not need my admiration
Myra -
You know, I printed this today and read it and read it - and only just then, as I read it, it dawned on me what I was reading about...then I get down here, and read the comments, of the timing of the poem with Saddam's capture, you know, as much as anything, I really believe you might have been foretelling.
A very mysterious poem.
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excellent
Couldn't be about the demise or capture of Saddam because this piece was written 2 days ago and Saddam was just scooped up yesterday unless the AP time clock is off and then I don't know, could be. TY for the Posillipo definition. I always thought they were mussels.
Desiree
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very good write...i love it...peace be with you always..HAPPY HOLIDAYS..DI
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very vivid and beautifully written, I love the pictures that you paint in your words. Thank you and Take care, Lissa
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I had a vision of Saddam as I read it. It rose with a clarity. I dont know if that was intentional, but it struck me with wonder.The proud leader ruthlessly doing what pleased him until it caught up with him..it spks of the past, but the picture it brings is the present..Saddam was a ruthless leader, but I couldnt help but feel sorry.
What must it feel like to have let down ur country so badly? To cower in fear waiting for capture..
I guess the reason the poem is so relevant in past and future is because history is repeated..time and time again..but we've yet to learn from it..
Edited on Dec 15, 4:22 because ''. -
Amazing! You made this come alive for me. You are a master of metaphor. To me it speaks of both past and present times.
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This may be a poem of the historic fall of a king. But it is so relevant today with the fall of King Hussein. That's what it put me in the mind of. "the eunuchs and slaves of your glittering palace have turned on you" also, "your sons dead" What perfect timing for you to have written this poinent poem my friend. Is that what you were getting at in such an eloquent way. Excellent write my dear. Very vivid. Thanks for sharing.
Much Love,
Renee
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The language you use in this piece is just stunningly beautiful. I wonder, are all your piece so eloquent? Lovely.
Much respect,
Sarah
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Ah
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Deliberate or accidental? Hmmm. The reference to Ur and the legions suggests the continuity of events. As before Darius, so after.
Posillipo did puzzle me - a reference to the painting of Alexander and Darius? There is a Posillipo in Naples, isn't there?
This is so rich in imagery. I hope the upcoming films on Alexander can compare. I approach them with trepidation.
p.s. I appreciate the mentioning of Hephaistion. An underrated man, I suspect. -
History and present together I suspect - the analogy with the fall and capture of Saddam seems clear to me - was that deliberate or accidental? The poem is well written, powerful imagery and metaphor, and the cycle of violence and fear and the inference that the conquerors will ultimately suffer the same fate unless something changes seems to be there too. Well written poem.
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History Alive!!!
My love of history causes me to greet this poem with great delight. Pagentry was in it. Greet deeds told. The fall of a king is no little thing. It is just the little things about the little people in his life that mean so much. The poor subjects dancing in the streets. Eunuchs and slaves. The writing was rich. From the glittering Palace to the dust and heat, I felt like I was there. -
Excellent
I always adore the "sands of time" poetry in all it's forms. Superb writing, keep on keepin' on!
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