The Ishtar Gate
Sell the car
before it’s repossessed
mortgage the house
before you’re forced into foreclosure
Board the next flight to Berlin
purchase an S-Bahn ticket
back to Babylon’s blue gate
Its oasis of Palms
will make you weep
until the desert sand is washed from your eyes
King Nebuchadnezzar’s aurochs galloping out of glazed brick into flowers
dragons spitting fire
into a procession of lions
times frozen roar
summoning you
out of underworld
burying modern civilization alive
back
back to the collective cradle
of humanity