World Literature:
Anthony Roberts
Pasargadae
I have heard you call
drawing me to you
bidding me enter
hands reaching across decades
pulling me ever toward you
promising the love I have always sought
and now have I arrived
to claim what had always been mine
but there is no temple
there is only silence
and a tomb
words greet me
"O man, whoever thou art, from wheresoever thou cometh, for I know you shall come, I am Cyrus, who gave the Persians their Empire.
Grudge me not, therefore, this little earth that covers my body."
I don't want his earth
I don't want his body
I want you
but you are not here
standing in front of the tomb
I look and find only desert in all directions
