Taharqa
At the City of Beautiful Monuments
the Crown encircled your head,
blessed with the gift of heaven
and the glories of the dead.
Your mother upon the River
to the throne of Horus came
from the Bowlands and the Southlands
to praise your rising name.
The gods looked well upon you;
the River gave life in flood.
The temple towns were many,
the harvests full and good.
In Karnak and Kawa was lavished
the ram of great Amun
with treasures to shame all princes
beneath the sun and moon.
Down came Assyrian armies,
up went Taharqa's hand;
by army, mice, and angel
was saved Yehuda-land.
But alas! All things must vanish;
the wolf of the north returned
again and again with sorrow
and an anger that seethed and burned.
In the holy City of Scepter
you saw your final end
and Assyrian darkness and fire
did on the Two Lands descend.
But in Nuri you sleep with Osiris,
perhaps one day from the dead
to return in the glory of kingship,
the Western sun on your head!
