The Discarded Tower

      Blows that wind of every sound
      Upon a battlement
      Where a ripping Andy Jackson stirred
      Every rebel heart to its head.
5     Raging after beauty in a fire;
      Horses tremble; men-at-arms are quiet;
      Heavy cannon are crunching through the wood.
           Noble minds all by ancient battle set ablaze.
      Upon that black battlement where
10    Great Caesar stoked,
      Half in admiration,
      Rome's mother-forges against the barbarian herd,
      Not Egyptian Cleopatra's whispers
      Nor Antony's sweet words,
15    Could still his already conquering hand.
           Noble minds all by ancient battle set ablaze.
      Staggered stars over the geared stone whirr.
      Electric fires in the mind's eye blurr
      Till all the creeping hill's a blaze;
20    Pacing ceases; the last
      Bird dies into dark;
      All night sounds transmogrified
      To a monotone.
           Noble minds all by ancient battle set ablaze.

 

From the collection "Burning Byzantium"

Written by Gregg Glory [Gregg G. Brown]

More information available on gregglory.com.