314. AT CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE

AT CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE
So they dragged this up from the Alexandrian sand
and mud: obelisk and markings together -

bragging rights about exploits in battle.

How purely mundane.

-
Now it sits before setting suns, atop

what's called a knoll. The Metropolitan Museum

of Art crowds it from one side, while the endless

streams of Sunday's pride - runners, bicyclists,

and walkers - stroll.

-

Attesting no longer to anything, this measured
feat, this awesome relic, stands silent - trying
only to dip before the passing sun.
Heliopolis this is not.