Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ASHURNATSIRPAL III, by CARL SANDBURG


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ASHURNATSIRPAL III, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Three walls around the town of tela when I came
Last Line: There wasn't much left of the town of tela.
Subject(s): Ashurnatsirpal Iii; Babylon


(From Babylonian tablet, 4,000 years Before Christ)

THREE walls around the town of Tela when I came.
They expected everything of those walls;
Nobody in the town came out to kiss my feet.

I knocked the walls down, killed three thousand soldiers,
Took away cattle and sheep, took all the loot in sight,
And burned special captives.

Some of the soldiers -- I cut off hands and feet.
Others -- I cut off ears and fingers.
Some -- I put out the eyes.
I made a pyramid of heads.
I strung heads on trees circling the town.

When I got through with it
There wasn't much left of the town of Tela.






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