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Madinat az-Zahra

مدينة الزهراء

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Alabaster roses
spring at random
from a single stem,

yet hiss and spit
in scrambles
for ascendancy.

A narcissistic fountain
plays for hours
in the twilight,

while in the fluted
audience hall
a dynasty implodes.

The postern keeper
doesn't ask the soldiers
why they've come.

First published in Blue Minaret.

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