Thousands of years before Hammurabi,
before Homer deified Ulysses,
Sumerian (now known as Iraqi)
musicians strummed its gleaming harpstrings as
King Shulgi’s sons dined and sang. Earth’s oldest
instrument, with broad mosaic borders
of lapis lazuli, red limestone. Crest
a golden bull’s head. By royal orders
buried in the Great Death Pit. Then lifted
to life centuries later by Woolley,
restored, returned to Iraq—a gift he’d
hoped would be shared internationally.
But our new death pit’s left the harp unstrung,
lost like thousands of America’s young,
and mass of Iraqi cruel deaths unsung.
Roger Armbrust
June 12, 2007
