dark side of empire - [poem] 3/4

aftermath

your armies ate all our food
smashed our pitiful cities to bits
made off with the little treasure we had

broken to pieces
never to be rebuilt
but free from occupation

the only reminder
a smoking ruin
where once your palaces stood
shattered signs of your invaders
crushed into splinters
abandoned barracks collapsing on themselves

but free from occupation
and for a time there the children of conquest
crawled out into the parched streets and played
and slowly the blood got absorbed by the earth
once again

water was scarce and food even more
still we ate and drank in joy
my soldiers are their heroes now
I am a hero now