Hadrian's Wall

In the first century
There was a Roman King
To whom the stones submitted
And the Rebel land yielded
And the sea
And the blue colour of these skies;

The stars came to accompany him
The moon saluted him and
descended as a guest to his fort;
The flowers announced his scents;
The trees walked long distances
to salute him;

The eagles landed on his shoulders
The wolves befriended him
And the desert obeyed his tracks.
I see here in Newcastle his
Nickel iron soled sandals, his heavy
Ringmail and his iron cape

What kind of plundering King is this
who chases out of his capital all the
"Barbarians" of the world and builds
This steady wall in the face of older
times, against the wind, against
spears plotting elsewhere?

There was a King
Celebrated by time and
Surrounded by the Horizon

Newcastle
April 9th, 2002

Translated by Hafsa Bekri-Lamrani