Time devours beauty of a maiden,
Like a flower withering in a prevailing drought
It pulls down the bright petals of her youth
To ruins of a deserted city
Mighty, once adorned,
Of her great walls and golden streets,
That whispers of her riches
Echoed the high mountains and valleys below,
As swans swam up her Jordan,
To the tunes of the eastern parrots
Finest, smiles like a sunset,
And the melodic voice of her highness
Now, behind shutters of broken glass,
A ghostly structure falling into oblivion
Deserted by kings, counsel men, and soldiers
As her streets crawl with beggers and the unclean
Her walls falling brick by brick,
As the wind pulls one strand of her hair at a time
But, she smiles, touching the smooth surface,
Of the glass, more like herself
And whispers, "for every city that fades from glory,
The world must raise another, "
"and for every queen that ages,
The kingdom must crown another"