The Fall of Etemenanki

The Fall of Etemenanki
(manuscript found behind the Totentanz)

All ye mighty
look and despair
for here lived the City

in the far-off land of Shinear
where once was clay tamed and wrought

to build a temple among the narrow streets
where the howl of crazed prophets rose
from their skiff and the shadow of the ziggurat fell across the sands

Look and despair for here rose the Tower
strong as a tongue glazed in spit
held fast on the scaffolding of throats on the vocal cords

up which were pulled buckets of mortar
prayers fragments of code late cuneiform
on tablets plated with copper encrusted with tin

look and remember for here She fell and Her name was Babel
[o Babel of dreams!] lest we be scattered over the face of the earth
ask the archeologists beyond the Totentanz

how she crumbled to dust the soft down of dialect
how the desert tore her how the sands of time ground her
until the word was ground fine and scattered among us

look and beware in the final hours of night
for the sun shall rise over the ruins and dawn shall once again melt
from the rubble the memory of the City its original source