Remnants of Outremer

Shortlived are all the kingdoms of this world:

So God has disposed and what right has man

To argue his precedence and desire?

As long as there is land, there will be war.


Covered passages and ruined houses

In the Genoese quarter of Akko,

Handsome ashlar vaults built to endure,

Molten light and shadow melding.


Their bread absorbed the flavour

Of the Saracen sun; olive presses bled

Elixir such as Jesus had once supped,

And water-mills churned the light.


A twelfth-century scythe lies in the dirt,

Crescent moon of a thousand years ago;

The hardened hand that made it sing

Trembled also at the touch of rose petals.


The Frankish dead, in shallow graves,

Stretch out on their backs from east to west,

Stone-pillowed heads propped ,gazing

Sunsetwise,arms across their chests.