Mexico, May/June 2011
When We Were Kings
When we were kings we were welcomed by hands
And they carried us throughout the city
We held banquet feasts for the thousands
And sent music through the streets
After rains on fractured earth
we waged war to defend our walls
And not just defence but territories advanced
we marched. Us mighty kings!
Now they search for us digging brick by brick
They find fragments of our pots and pans
They speculate about our parties, our extravagance
Their minute minds!
Of how we navigated the stars and planned crops at solstice
How we slayed our foes and offered to god
Our immortal empire carved into obsidian
Children run on the earth above us now
Men and women peddle souvenirs to tourists
Our empire in plastic, our images in wood!
They seek shade under the same trees we did
They pass time playing music from tinny speakers
Rap songs of reconstituted beats;
and how desperate they are for everyone to remember their name
When We Were Kings
When we were kings we were welcomed by hands
And they carried us throughout the city
We held banquet feasts for the thousands
And sent music through the streets
After rains on fractured earth
we waged war to defend our walls
And not just defence but territories advanced
we marched. Us mighty kings!
Now they search for us digging brick by brick
They find fragments of our pots and pans
They speculate about our parties, our extravagance
Their minute minds!
Of how we navigated the stars and planned crops at solstice
How we slayed our foes and offered to god
Our immortal empire carved into obsidian
Children run on the earth above us now
Men and women peddle souvenirs to tourists
Our empire in plastic, our images in wood!
They seek shade under the same trees we did
They pass time playing music from tinny speakers
Rap songs of reconstituted beats;
and how desperate they are for everyone to remember their name
