"I, the great king, the powerful king, king of the

world, King of Assyria, the king whose path

was a cyclone, whose battle was a flaming

sea, I am powerful, all-powerful, exalted,

almighty, majestic, all-important in

power,"—inscription of 670 B.C.

Sometimes, a lion with a prophet's beard

Lopes from a bas-relief to stretch his claws.

His bestial eyes are wonderfully sad.

Then he grow wings, the terrible king grows wings,

And flies above the black Euphrates loam,

Hunting for enemies of Nineveh.

His names are Shamshi and Adadnrari,

Tiglath-Pileser, Assurbanipal,

And the first Sargon of Dur-Sharukin.

"The day my chariots stormed the town, I waxed

My beard with oil of rose and waterlily,

And freed nine pearl-caged nightingales, and built

A pillar of skills so high it stabbed the sun."

 (Was that the tomb's voice, or the desert-wind's?

 Or ours?—what ghost is...