Revised sonnet #409
They burnt the logs in kilns to bake the blocks
Of stadiums palaces and pyramids
Till jungle paved the way to plough and ox
To cereal grasses glorious weeds in grids
A quadrant fallow kept as fourth year bids
To rest and nourish soil in chaff and rain
The crop economy too niche on skids
As famine follows dry year harvest wane
The summer fires took hold the fight in vain
Then human hunger favoured cannibal
Then jungle axed ash ate and rose again
Its lost tribes mock up shills yet magical
The civilization that swifly rose
As swiftly fell Ill bear thin bone through nose
Chorus rose mounted surged
