The Death of Sardanapalus

     poem by Janice D. Soderling
     art: Eugène Delacroix’s “The Death of Sardanapalus” 1827. Oil on canvas. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.

Bring to my pyre all that I own
Jade, rubies, pearls, each precious gem.
That which is mine is mine alone.

Great Nineveh is overthrown,
Assyria's proud diadem.
Bring to my pyre all that I own.

My realm is chaff, my rule windblown.
Bring my horses, bring my women.
That which is mine is mine alone.

Death rides them though they buck and moan.
No Mede shall mount and master them.
Bring to my pyre all that I own.

Our walls are breached. Stone falls from stone.
But hear my sovereign stratagem:
That which is mine is mine alone.

Let fly the flames! To all make known
now dies the last of Nimrod's stem.
Bring to my pyre all that I own.
That which is mine is mine alone.

Janice D. Soderling is a previous contributor to Autumn Sky Poetry. Her poetry, fiction and translations appear at many print and online venues. Recent and forthcoming work appears at Horizon Review (England), The Lyric Magazine, Anon (both Scotland), Soundzine, Shakespeare's Monkey Revue (both USA), Centrifugal Eye (Canada), and The Flea (Australia). She was nominated for the Sundress Best of the Net 2009 by Australia-based Shit Creek Review. She lives in Sweden.

© 2009 Janice D. Soderling