Poem: "Constantinople"

[jjhunter]

Posted on behalf of stryck

Constantinople

We built this city
On eternity's blueprint;
An edifice of forever,
A monument to God,

But we live in time.
Time ate the stones;
It drank our health;
It stole our strength.

The city was of the world;
The world laid it low.
We wept at what was wrought.

All worldly things pass away.
We who mourned mere moonlight
Will inherit the sun.

Comments

[untonuggan]

I love the images in this poem, and the way the repetition of language/grammar brings the message home:

Time ate the stones;
It drank our health;
It stole our strength.

It reminds me a bit of "If you give a mouse a cookie..." in a good way. Well done!

Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

People do fight persistently over holy cities.

I'm reminded of the fact that one of my most devout characters decided to level Jerusalem on the premise that it was just encouraging humans to be destructive and they didn't deserve it.

*chuckle* But the best rendition goes to Sherri S. Tepper from The Fresco: "Next time, the hole will be bigger." The city had been shunted to a different dimension.

[aldersprig]

the first line keeps having me singing Jefferson Airplane (Starship?) :-)

But once I got past that - Time ate the stones. Wow. That second stanza is powerful.

And the fourth brings it back up just as strongly.