Ancient Daze: “Nothing like us ever was.”

Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind by Carl Sandburg

14000 years old bisons sculptures found in Le Tuc d’Audoubert cave. Ariege, France.#archaeohistories pic.twitter.com/cBzbyIN5DW

— ArchaeoHistories (@histories_arch) August 21, 2022

The past is a bucket of ashes.

1

The woman named Tomorrow
sits with a hairpin in her teeth
and takes her time
and does her hair the way she wants it
and fastens at last the last braid and coil
and puts the hairpin where it belongs
and turns and drawls: Well, what of it?
My grandmother, Yesterday, is gone.
What of it? Let the dead be dead.

The oldest door still in use in Pantheon, Rome – Italy.

Cast in bronze for emperor Hadrian’s rebuilding, they date from about 115 AD.#archaeohistories pic.twitter.com/dQOlPdWPCu

— ArchaeoHistories (@histories_arch) August 21, 2022

2

The doors were cedar
and the panels strips of gold
and the girls were golden girls
and the panels read and the girls chanted:
We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation:
nothing like us ever was.

The doors are twisted on broken hinges.
Sheets of rain swish through on the wind
where the golden girls ran and the panels read:
We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation,
nothing like us ever was.

Roman mosaic showing aquatic life. An object located in Pompeii. The object dated back to the 2nd century BC. Located currently in Naples, National Archaeological Museum.#archaeohistories pic.twitter.com/Vb4Kmt77Zh

— ArchaeoHistories (@histories_arch) August 21, 2022

3

It has happened before.
Strong men put up a city and got
a nation together,
And paid singers to sing and women
to warble: We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation,
nothing like us ever was.

And while the singers sang
and the strong men listened
and paid the singers well
and felt good about it all,
there were rats and lizards who listened
… and the only listeners left now
… are … the rats … and the lizards.

And there are black crows
crying, “Caw, caw,”
bringing mud and sticks
building a nest
over the words carved
on the doors where the panels were cedar
and the strips on the panels were gold
and the golden girls came singing:
We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation:
nothing like us ever was.

The only singers now are crows crying, “Caw, caw,”
And the sheets of rain whine in the wind and doorways.
And the only listeners now are … the rats … and the lizards.

Fethiye King Tombs, a rock tomb carved into rocks from 4th century BC in center of Fethiye, Türkiye.

Amintas King Tombs, which are Lycian period structures, formed by carving a single piece of rock in Ionian style. Built in memory of King Amintas, ruler of city of Telmessos. pic.twitter.com/r1MABMbDsi

— ArchaeoHistories (@histories_arch) August 21, 2022

4

The feet of the rats
scribble on the door sills;
the hieroglyphs of the rat footprints
chatter the pedigrees of the rats
and babble of the blood
and gabble of the breed
of the grandfathers and the great-grandfathers
of the rats.

And the wind shifts
and the dust on a door sill shifts
and even the writing of the rat footprints
tells us nothing, nothing at all
about the greatest city, the greatest nation
where the strong men listened
and the women warbled: Nothing like us ever was.

This monument was discovered in Bulgaria, the richest tomb of the 5th millennium BC. The gold on it is 2000 years older than the egyptian pharaohs. pic.twitter.com/vymxbjduUI

— Dr. M.F. Khan (@Dr_TheHistories) August 21, 2022