Lament for Zenobia's City

Her sons dead, Zenobia was taken away to Rome and legend
as a prisoner. Perhaps she married that senator,

perhaps that fifth-century clergyman was really her descendant.

Perhaps. But her sons were dead, her empire was dead

and soon her city was dead, and now,

it's long-standing ruins, hit by artillery fire,

may die as a sacrifice to a new brutal empire
rising under a black banner.

The silent tombs, carriers of memory,

to be stripped to fund the machinery of conquest;

the temples, palaces and theatre

to be attacked with hammers and explosives

to herald the coming of the Daesh.

21.05.2015