The golden statues of the Aztec
Were soon melted down
(seething as merchants gain)
Even as their white-hot beauty
Burnt into civilized brains.
Poor Horatio’s universe
Was deeply confounded
Buffeted by this sprung well
Of coloured creation
Startling in its vast simplicity.
These timeless artefacts
Trip up the victor’s tawdry prose:
They shaft all knowledge
Into that dark unknown
Into the realm of death’s repose
Where that heady sense of power
(supremacy and its trappings)
Barely lasts a weary blink:
The victors took their gold
And cloaked their guilt.
Though they left their deeds to fester
These false Christian idols
Could not defeat
The priceless beauty
That ancient worlds bequeath.
These artefacts
Enact their sharp revenge
June 2024
Were soon melted down
(seething as merchants gain)
Even as their white-hot beauty
Burnt into civilized brains.
Poor Horatio’s universe
Was deeply confounded
Buffeted by this sprung well
Of coloured creation
Startling in its vast simplicity.
These timeless artefacts
Trip up the victor’s tawdry prose:
They shaft all knowledge
Into that dark unknown
Into the realm of death’s repose
Where that heady sense of power
(supremacy and its trappings)
Barely lasts a weary blink:
The victors took their gold
And cloaked their guilt.
Though they left their deeds to fester
These false Christian idols
Could not defeat
The priceless beauty
That ancient worlds bequeath.
These artefacts
Enact their sharp revenge
June 2024