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"