The Narrow Throat
Between sea and desert,
a strip of earth no wider than a breath,
yet every empire has leaned over it
to drink.
Phoenician sails,
Assyrian chariots,
Persian couriers,
Greek hoplites,
Roman legions —
all have passed through,
their shadows lengthening in the same sun.
Here, the harbours remember
languages like tides,
each one leaving shells and salt in the markets.
Here, the roads remember
the weight of tribute,
the dust of retreat.
The narrow throat swallows without choking:
grain from the Nile,
cedar from the highlands,
gold from beyond the rivers,
and the stories of gods
who change their names at the border.
It remains —
a prize, a passage, a prophecy —
its stones worn smooth
by the lips of the world.
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Author's Notes/Comments:
The “narrow throat” is the Levant — the coastal and inland corridor between the Mediterranean Sea and the deserts of Arabia. Its geography funnels all north–south movement between Egypt and Anatolia/Mesopotamia through a strip rarely more than 120 km wide.
• Ancient Trade & Power:• Phoenician sails — maritime trade from Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, reaching as far as Carthage and Spain.
• Assyrian chariots — 9th–7th centuries BCE imperial campaigns down the Levant to control Egypt’s approaches.
• Persian couriers — Royal Road extensions and satrapal administration after Cyrus’s conquests (6th century BCE).
• Greek hoplites — Alexander’s campaigns (late 4th century BCE) and later Hellenistic armies.
• Roman legions — annexation into the Roman provincial system (1st century BCE onward).
• Goods & Ideas: Grain from Egypt, cedar from Lebanon, gold and spices from Arabia and beyond, and religious ideas that travelled both ways — Canaanite, Israelite, Greek, Roman, and later Christian and Islamic.
• Continuity: Every empire that sought to dominate the eastern Mediterranean had to pass through this corridor, leaving behind infrastructure, language, and cultural layers.
.
Decades ago, I wanted to
Decades ago, I wanted to study the Ancient History of this region. But I now realize that the footnotes, bibliographies, and debates would have sapped my enthusiasm. It took a long time to realize that; and poems like this one remind me of what I love most about that place and the various ages and cultures that have affected it. Thank you, a thousand times over for writing and posting this BRILLIANT poem!!!
Starward-Led [in Chrismation, Januarius]
I remember in the sixth grade
I remember in the sixth grade doing a multispread research paper about ancient kingdoms of this region, all of that was pre-Google and a lot of "footwork." It was lots fun, though. Probably a venture with the same internsity as your Shelley days.
here is poetry that doesn't always conform
galateus, arkayye, arqios,arquious, crypticbard, excalibard, wordweaver