The Empire

to the Ancient Greeks, Romans and Macedonians upon viewing their artifacts in the Louvre

You rule us still,

The mind is filled with classical impressions,

Marble-wrought expressions,

The Barbarian wondering,

Wandering in a mindless state,

The Britons, the Germans, the world you once claimed,

Remains your empire,

Smooth surfaces washed-out to white,

Grey veins, reclaim,

Hearts, heads,

Whose ancestors wore out their hands,

Under your great empire of rubble,

And columns & jewels,

That tempt our mind to dream,

To create,

To act in your favour,

On your strong behalf,

With the grace of a time,

We hardly comprehend, 

Pretend,

But books' lies are fierce,

It's here your reflection's apparent to me,

In the bright face of Pallas,

The quiv'r of Diana,

The stark eyes of Asterion,

Fading 'neath Theseus, 

We as you were,

Breathing new life,

Into memories here.

Author's Note

Written in the Louvre about pieces in the Louvre, photo taken in the Louvre by Alexandria aka me who was in the Louvre at the time, Louvrin' every minute of it... the apex of my studies in Ancient History thus far.

Reviews

[Kristallo]

How I envy you! I would love to see those places- one day I know that I will, I just have to wait until finances will allow for it. This poem is fascinating, breathing life into the leaders of the ancient world, how I love history from that time. Especially Roman. I saw the movie "Alexander" recently and it so inspired me that I rented a couple books about his life from the library, I found him to be an otherworldly sort of person, he was so driven and free, so brave and compassionate. But anyway, I digress... I loved this, it was such a clever take on your experience there. I can just imagine you, sitting on a bench in a museum, hurriedly writing out a poem in the midst of your awe and excitement among the artifacts of a world that has moved on- but not been forgotten. Brilliant piece!

[Alexandria Reece]

I wrote my 90 page capstone thesis for my BA on Alexander the Great through the lens of the humanities and his approach to them, lots of Aristotle in there and such. I am so glad to know you're also a fan of him. I am named after him and so I have a natural sort of love for him. I know you will visit some day and the energy there will be appeased by your aura as it was with mine. They love those with an appreciative, educated eye. I am positive you will feel it.

I was much that way there! Scrawling as I walked, sitting and writing with a view of the courtyard, some old church artifacts from Europe circa 1500 for some of the other poems I wrote there. I had a thank you to make to Saint George, a long bitter story with a stained glass window from earlier this year while I was studying at the University of Sydney. I got distracted from poetry in the Egyptian section sadly, I was busy scrawling down all of the hieroglyphs I didn't recognize, I hated the gaps in my reading. :0 When you go you must see the bust they have of Alexander. It's in a random glass case by a stairwell, you'll know it when you see it. His eyes are undeniable, though time has worn them greatly. Thank you so much for your ever-kind reviews!!

[zainul]

I am fortunate to read a miniature theses on Ancient History in this lovely poem that contains only twenty nine lines.Alexandria's 90 page theses must have contained precious information about the empires,but getting access and securing time for its reading would be almost impossible.
Thus traveling with Alexandria in the Louvre and smelling the fragrance of the empires who rule us still and wander in a mindless state is the most valuable experience of my life.
I adore Alexandria for her monumental work.
Congratulations!!!

[James McFadyen]

a monolith of lexical grace. You have truly used these fragments of history and visualised them to create something artistic and fluidly emphatic.
Really enjoyed reading this.

[Kaylor Mason]

I've always wanted to visit the Louvre . . . it's a once in a lifetime dream

[Alexandria Reece]

If you do I'd recommend getting a multi-day pass. It gets you into a lot of different places around Paris. It even gets you into Versailles I believe.. It's too much to take in in one day. It's kind of been the climax of my field thus-far. I got to see the thing pictured in all of the books I read in person! I got to walk into Akhethep's tomb and read the hieroglyphs on the red-stone of Ramses III's coffin. Ugh. Too good, but now I am rambling!

Thank you for reading. :)

[Alexandria Reece]

of my time in my field*
all of the things*

ugh, got too excited.

[I Shred This Cabbage]

there is a coldly beautiful, mechanical precision turning the wheels of this poem. it is the many hours of studying and thinking on the subject in hand poured into a single moment. seems you desired to cast aside what you have read, in the hope you could make a connection with the spirits in the physical objects before you.

p.s Louvrin' every minute of it... hahaha! you are soooo cool! :)

[Alexandria Reece]

Thank you so kindly John and yes, that was indeed my experience! :)

[I Shred This Cabbage]

yes! it was such a Louvly poem :)

[Alexandria Reece]

ahaha!

[I Shred This Cabbage]

sorry for throwing up your joke and feeding it back to you! it wasn't cool of me! :P

[Alexandria Reece]

It was just as funny the second time. ;0