The Crown of the Mountain

Oh great pearl of the valley,
You whose golden light gleams among the emeralds,
Beside the silver vein that flows
Into that broad pool in the garden of the gods.
The stars in their eternal envy,
Look down upon you and would only descend
To walk humbly in your gardens
Among the arches and columns of your majesty.
The sun paints your walls,
And plays about your fountains and your windows,
She is the finest artist
And her work exalts and elevates your form.
The fruits upon your trees
I have known no better in all my journeys,
They are sweet of taste
Truly they are trees worthy to bow to you.
The horses that grace your slopes
They are the finest across every land and plain,
Proud warriors and travelers
That carry your people forward to their fate.
This lowly traveler
Must avert her eyes from the greatness of you
For what worth is she
To gaze upon your beauty that gilds the mountain.

This poem was originally found as an inscription decorating the Hall of the Ambassadors in the Golden Palace, which housed the royal family of the Kodiri Empire for nearly three thousand years until its ruination. It only survives due to a traveling writer who recorded it and many other poems, for the delicate stucco in which is was carved was marred by the soldiers of the warlord Veshir.   A plaque with the first eight lines was erected outside the old main entrance to the palace complex shortly before restoration work began. The city of Lidaidi, outside which the palace sits, has finished restoring the Hall of the Ambassadors, allowing the poem to be viewed in its original setting for the first time in nearly five thousand years.



Cover image: by Jebulon

Comments

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Jul 9, 2018 17:29 by mashley310

I really like all of the imagery in the poem! The last four lines are pretty cool as well, they really highlight how majestic the author thought this building was. As a formatting note, I would probably prefer the poem be written single spaced instead of double spaced, but that might just be a personal preference. When I read poetry I kinda like to see the physical shape of the poem as well for some reason, but the extra spaces between lines make it so that the entire poem doesn't fit on one screen.

Jul 9, 2018 17:35

Thanks!   I tried doing single space, but for me at least for some reason world anvil puts single spaced things on the same line after saving. I definitely agree it's preferable for poems, though

Jul 9, 2018 17:37 by mashley310

I think if you use the "br" bbcode after each line (and only enter once instead of twice) you'll get single spacing.

Jul 9, 2018 17:37 by mashley310

(Except use brackets instead of quotes)

Jul 9, 2018 17:40

Thanks! I'll test that out :)

Jul 9, 2018 17:45 by Coré-Liou

I know nothing of poetry in English, but this is really beautiful, especially with the addition of so many images in the poem.

Jul 9, 2018 17:49

Thanks so much!

Jul 9, 2018 18:23 by Malkuthe Highwind

This was a very nice poem to read. You can definitely sense the awe that comes through the words, but there's also a certain sense of melancholy to the words that is exacerbated by the history of the poem. Good work! :3.

Jul 9, 2018 19:21

Thank you!