ur


growing up,
i was afraid of the Assyrian
creatures of war,
someone once said
that those whom they conquered
were beaten,
raped,
tortured,
probed with hideous devices
lashed with spiked whips
and gorged
with pain
until their living, breathing
yet lifeless
corpse
was left impaled
on a stake inserted into the rectum,
lubricated with pig fat,
such that
almighty
gravity would slowly pull the body
back to earth
while the spike remained motionless
its lethal spear
plunging upward
through the pelvic region
tearing at organs and
flesh and
as some would say
it forged a path
to heaven
through the sins of its victim
eventually
splitting the tongue in half
as it made its way
back to the rigors
of daylight,
and that was how brave men used to die.

these days that fear has left me,
for the Assyrian way seems
compassionate
when compared to the horror
i face in the modern world.




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