A man without self control
is like a city broken into and left without walls
Proverbs 25:28
I saw it with my own eyes!
the broken city.
its walls were rent and
Fallen;
defenses breached,
and laid waste to.
I walked amid the desolate remains,
sorrowing at glorious watchtowers,
now crumbled, now humbled,
a Comedy of brick and stones.
my tears fell
as sight fell
upon the tarnished gates,
now mangled, now grotesque,
its Golden hue
a soon distant memory.
nothing living stood within,
not a breath to be heard,
not a breath could be found.
only grieving silence
falling upon naked ruins,
a fitting vestment
of tattered rags weaved
of splendid raiment.
“how came this to pass?�?
cried my Immortal soul.
then was I brought to
the heart,
the ravished centre
of this mighty city.
there stood a throne,
rot and mildew
its ornaments;
a carrion stench
its glory;
and upon this throne
a most tragic figure -
his eyes, a glassy sheen,
glazed in joylessness;
his arms, like withered branches,
creeping
around his body,
around shrivelled legs
in a desperate embrace.
had there ever been anyone
more squalid,
more vulgar,
more wretched?
yet I recognised him.
It was i.
