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At A Deserted Site; A Private Tour
Glistens, in dawn's pink light, the spider's web
spun in the crevices between these stones,
torn down from walls (along with countless others),
by order of the Pharaoh Horemheb
(heirless, he raised your grandsire to the throne's
command). With maddened frenzy and no pity,
his workers leveled this once thriving city
(from which those who first dwelled here had been driven);
its splendid beauty cast down, to be trod
beneath the calloused feet of mockery.
A legend, circulated locally,
tells of a Pharaoh who taught heresy
from this site where we stand. A single God
he worshipped: Who (he said) made all men brothers,
and each responsible to bear another's
burdens; a God Who loved all equally,
Who said that any wrongs must be forgiven
by those wronged. That angered the moneyed classes,
exposing them as selfish horses' asses.
No records in official history
supports the legend. Yet, men were deployed
by Pharaoh Horemheb, and they destroyed
the whole place. Few have ventured out here, since
those days---sometimes, a curious priest, but fewer
than once a year (so I would guess). Great Prince,
who favors me your guide on this brief tour,
your gracious courtesy is like your mother's.
Oh, I am so forgetful, quite a dunce:
now I remember . . . she, too, came here, once---
that was the year (pray, pardon my dull brain)
her father Pharaoh issued the decree
that every Hebrew infant must be slain.
Starward
[jlc]
