Wednesday, March 7, 2012

61. The Second Punic War

Giving up in Sicily
Carthage tried for Iberia
Whose golden and silvery mountains
Could supply her expanding country.
Three kings came to Iberia.
Hamilcar who landed in Spain,
Hasdrupal who continued the campaign,
Hannibal who stepped on the foot of the country called Rome.
Rome declared war in a fit of rage.
But Hannibal surprised her
He crossed her great Alpine ridges
Bringing great and fearful elephants
To sac the fair city.
He was met by Roman forces and driven back.
His transgression was never forgotten.
A Scipio came
To take revenge for his country.
He traveled to Africa
Fighting the Carthage king at home
He won the name Africanus
A statue was erected
Among others
Decorating Rome’s streets
Like homages to gods.
Rome retaliated.
Her great band of legions
Relentlessly pushed outward.
Growing out of Europe.
Branching into new territories.
All of Iberia fell.
They came to Greece
After fighting through Macedonian mountains.
Where the marble men used to live.
They offered freedom and peace.
The Akhians bowed to them
Giving Aeneas his revenge for Illium’s destruction.
Rome made sacrifices
For her survival.
She dressed herself with Mediterranean blue
With hints of roses
In the bloody sacred spring.

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