lament of the queen

You, general of the armada that sailed for the face of Helen-

Our men followed you.

You said Death and they roared like lions

You said Immortality and they ran their swords through sons

I, a barbarian empress on the pyre

of a kingdom that once was great

As a queen burns with her city

So God will go down with your ship.

I stood on an ancient horizon

and watched the dogs overrun Rome

watched as they brought the temples to their knees

like the way Orpheus must have pleaded when the dread god said:

you cannot go back.

They raped our Colosseum, my love

where were you?

They dragged our stone children from the breasts of tigers

And fed them to the midwives

where were you

The young men sobbed at the feet of still girls

The old women moaned for the men who were not there

were you

The bullocks thundered over the babies

were

shattered over the bodies of the priestesses

you

oblivious

Troy burned.

Where were you?

I thought you were a gladiator

Why did you not defend us?