SOUTHWARD of Borneo’s isle there lies
A little cluster fair,
Fam’d for the produce of sweet spice,
And England traded there.
Holland sent merchants thither too,
And peaceful treaties bind,
To conduct upright, fair and true,
All thus in commerce join’d.
But interest, alas! prevail’d
O’er justice and her claim;
The Dutch our ancestors assail’d,
And, unrestrain’d by shame.
Remorse, or fear, their oaths they broke,
And, as historians tell,
The English ‘neath their bloody stroke,
Unarm’d, by thousands fell.
I ask the name then of that isle,
Among the cluster plac’d,
Which was by cruelty, awhile
And treachery disgrac’d.
Dwelling on Asiatic ground,
North east of Rhodes, we’re told,
The ancient Lycians were found,
A people brave and bold.
But in their fair metropolis,
Besieg’d by mighty Rome,
Spoil’d were their scenes of social bliss
And lost their peaceful home.
Determined they would neither yield,
Nor liberty survive,
When the foe triumph’d in the field,
They burnt themselves alive.
For, having set the town on fire,
They perish’d in the flame,
And thus to future praise aspire–
Now tell the city’s name.
Near a town, now Ajazzo call’d,
On vast Cilicia’s plain,
Ambition once stood unappall’d,
Amongst her thousands slain.
For there the “Grecian madman” met
Darius, Persia’s king:
That prince sustained a foul defeat:
The Greeks of victory sing.
His wife, his mother, and his son,
Grac’d the young conqu’ror’s train,
While he prepar’d, (ere quite undone)
T’ renew the strife again.
But recollect, we’re nowhere told
That Alexander fought
Ajazzo’s battle: then unfold
What ancient history taught.
Science another name bestows
On that ill-fated spot:
‘Tis this I wish you to disclose–
The former matters not.
When holy Nehemiah ‘s heart
Led him (with sorrow fill’d)
To seek permission to depart,
Jerusalem to build;
He waited on the high behest
Of Persia’s sovereign:
To him he proffered his request,
And did his boon obtain.
The place which was as capital
Of their vast kingdom known,
Was where the monarchs of the soil
In winter fixed their throne.
In this renown’d imperial seat
The prince then held his court:
The name I ask you to repeat
Of the belov’d resort.
This, with the rest, if you divine,
From them you’ll quickly learn
What is the geographic line
On which the earth does turn.
(Elizabeth Hitchener)
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Based on Topics: War & Peace Poems, Youth Poems, Fairness Poems, Place Poems, Name Poems, Kings & Queens Poems, Fire Poems, Home Poems, Fear Poems, Success Poems, Sons PoemsBased on Keywords: disgrac, historians, ror, treaties, metropolis, asiatic, unarm, unrestrain, darius, unappall, geographic