Kiizil (for Robert)
ESL - March,2007, NYC
start Wikipedia quote:
The Kizil River - Kizilirmak, "the Red River" also known as the Halys River, is
the
longest river in Turkey.
It flows for a total of about 1,150 kilometers, rising in the eastern Anatolian
highlands around 39.8°N & 38.3°E, flowing first to the west and south-west until
38.7° &
N & 34.8° E, then forming a wide arch, flowing first to the west, then to the
north-west,
passing to the north-east of Lake Tuz, then to the north and northeast where it
is
joined by its major tributary, the Delice River at 40.47° N & 34.14° E, and
after zig-
zagging to the north-west to the confluence with the Devrez River at 41.10°N &
34.42°E,
and back to the north-east finally empties into the Black Sea at 41.72°N &
35.95°E.
The Hittites called it the Marassantiya River. It formed the boundary of the
land Hatti,
the core land of the Hittite Empire. In the Classical Antiquity it was the
boundary
between Asia Minor and the rest of Asia. As the site of the Battle of the
Eclipse on
May 28th, 585 BC it was the border between Lydia and Persia until Croesus of
Lydia
crossed it to attack Cyrus the Great in 547 BC; he was defeated and Persia
expanded to
the Aegean Sea.
The Battle of the Eclipse was the very first pre-modern battle which can be
dated with
certainty due to the eclipse which brought about it's sudden end and the peace
negotiations which followed. (from wikipedia.org)
But the eclipse ended and was soon forgotten
The fighting went on and for thousands of years,
The river ran red with the blood of the fallen,
The Philistines, the Midianites, The Babylonians and the Israelites,
The C'naanites, the Kurds, the Armenians and the Turks,
The Palestinians, the British, the German, the French and the Americans,
The Syrians, the Iraqis, the Greeks, The Egyptians and the Iranians,
The Romans, the Lebanese, the Persians, the Israelis, and the Jordanians.
One day there are crusades and the next day jihads,
Wars of independance, wars of liberation, wars of attrition, police actions,
International interventions ....
Yes humans surely love their wars,
Yes humans surely love those wars,
The elephants, the sycophants, the merchants and the whores,
Resplendant in their finery when marching to the wars.
The chariots, the catapults, the armor and the swords,
The submarines, and war machines for which I have no words.
The honor and the glory, the suffering and pain,
The ones who are immortal and the ones who died in vain.
Sometimes you're at the bottom and sometimes you're on top,
I wish I knew some magic words, with which I'd make you stop.
But no eclipse is strong enough to stem the numbers of the dead
And to this day Kizilrmak is ever running red.
end Wikipedia quote.
Flow Red river, into the sea.
Flow into the Black sea.
Flow Red river, into the sea.
Flow into the Black sea.
Flow Red river, into the sea.
Flow into the Black sea.
Copyright © 2007 Ernest Samuel Llime. All Rights Reserved. |