Notice of absence from Tristan Robert Lange
💀🐦⬛Not really absent, but not fully present due to an insane schedule. Will be back in full measure shortly my dear poets and friends. S💀🐦⬛
💀🐦⬛Not really absent, but not fully present due to an insane schedule. Will be back in full measure shortly my dear poets and friends. S💀🐦⬛
Two millennia,
seven decades, and a trio of
solar revo- lutions ago,
an am- btious
Ro- man
pro-
consul
besieged
Alexan-
dria,
which
was
home
to
Earth’s
largest
library.
During this,
his conflict with Ptolemy the Eighth,
his conflict with Ptolemy the Eighth,
great Caesar ordered ships in the harbor to be burned,
which led to the unfortunately unintended consequence of
fire spreading to buildings and structures on the shore, causing many
buildings being damaged. Sadly, one of those damaged buildings was the great
library, which was a wonder of all the civilized world. Within its hexagonal walls and
multiple tiers, white marble that now only shimmers in our mind’s ancient imagination,
were housed over forty thousand, possibly up to four hundred thousand papyrus scrolls of all
varying degrees of human intellectual achievement and historical record; a collection that, had
it still been around today, we would have the answers to so many mysteries about our human past
and what has led us from where we were millennia before the fall of the Republic and the rise of Ro-
me’s egomaniacal and extravagant empire. We would be able to see what led to the prioritization of power and propaganda over equal access to a wealth of knowledge that would benefit a humanity in
profoundly powerful ways. Yet, as any student of history knows, that was not to be. Instead, the raging
fire of a western tyrant spread from building to building until it burned parts of the library down. O, but listen my dear friend, because that was not the full destruction of the library. No, this bastion of hum-
an knowledge, wisdom, literature, the arts, that even was home to a zoo, was destined for more sub-
jugation to human refuse otherwise known as greed, ignorance, corruption, and power. All this at,
yet again, a huge cost to all humanity. Why is it, friend, that we humans are not content on build-
ing on the achievements of others? Why is it that we must set out to be the biggest, the best,
the greatest of all others? Why is it that we seek to trump each other instead of teach each
other? These are questions not easily answered and, sadly, people would rather burn
and ban books than take the time to learn what worlds and mysteries lie inside of
them. Now, by this point in our celestial journey through the space/time con-
tinuum, you may be thinking that this historical drivel might all be well
and good, but that ultimately it is a waste of time to read and is
really an excuse to set up a pretty shape. Friend, this is not
true, and you know it. History is not drivel and this
shape needs no excuse for its existence,
other than to draw you into a truth
that will set you free.
Through
the years,
the Empire’s rise
was
no kinder to
the great library
in
Alexandria
than Rome’s
only dictator
for life.
One
“remarkable”
Emperor, Lucius
Aurelian, prioritizing his
army’s awesome power,
brought further death
to the Mouseion,
the muse-
inspired
area that
hosted
the world’s
greatest
shrine of
wisdom.
Beyond
the destroyed ancient
library, still in the same city, sat
a temple complex, the Serapeum.
It was home to Alexandria’s baby
Bibliotheca, the former quiet
space of legacy learning.
The great Christian
Patriarch,
(men. sigh.)
Theophilous
of Alexandria,
in the year of
our Lord,
three hundred
ninety-one,
destroyed it
while con-
verting the
Serapeum
Into a church.
This of course,
Inspired other
zealous men,
(again, what is with
them? For real.)
Christ followers,
to attack, raid,
pillage, and
in the name
of the Christ,
perform a
proper lynching;
beyond the
books they
BANNED,
then stripped
naked
a
wise woman,
a philosopher,
quartering her
after shelling
out her flesh;
reason drug
through the
streets in a
bloodbath.
Today, here on
planet Earth, two thousand,
seventy-three years later, we think
we are so fucking advanced that some
might find that word too barbaric to digest.
Yet, we have passed up reason once again,
we have given up hope on our better angels,
only to embrace guns over the god we believe
will save us. We have abandoned the path to
an enlightened age, to revert back to the fall
of Rome, only this time Rome sits in the
new world and names herself the state
of America, no longer united in
reality, an empire built on
exploitation, sexploit-
ation,
slavery, sexism,
patriarchy, privilege
power, oppression,
and the carrot
on the stick
called the
American
Dream.
If you are
buying,
they
are
sell-
ing.
Mean-
while,
attacks
on your
brain are
being made
by male-
manifested
members
of small-
mindedness and, well,
you know how the saying goes,
small “middle legs”, their mem-
bra virilia the only worthy memor-
abilia. These attacks take the form
of bans on books, the abolition of
academic acuity, the dulling of
democracy, and deadpan
serious proposals of
evil and
the absurd.
Rewriters of
his and her stories,
of all their stories
regardless of gender,
the propagandists
push pills of
populism to
numb and
nebulize
you into
submitting
to
serfdom.
My dear, it is not that the dark age will descend—it has already descended.
© 2025 Tristan Robert Lange. All rights reserved.
-
Author:
Tristan Robert Lange (
Offline) - Published: February 25th, 2025 07:48
- Comment from author about the poem: My poem’s shape traces a celestial journey through our solar system. Beginning at the asteroid belt, we travel to the sun—the setup for our voyage. We then visit Mercury, brilliantly illuminated by the sun’s light, before moving to Venus, ravaged and destroyed. Earth brings us to our present day, while Mars represents the folly of men. The finale points us toward a final truth, fulfilling a promise made in the poem’s solar heart.
- Category: Sociopolitical
- Views: 16
- Users favorite of this poem: arqios, Poetic Licence, Doggerel Dave
Offline)
Comments9
Excellent write Tristan
Thank you, my friend!
Now that is a poem! Liked and Faved🙏🏻🕊
Thank you my friend. I am still recovering from writing it! 😜 I am really glad it delivered. Thank you so much for the fave, feedback, and like. ❤️🙏
It felt like a really lot of work went into it 🙏🏻🕊️
Indeed. Thank you again! 😊
Your welcome😊
Tristan quite a write this was and a journey too. The shape of the poem pulled me along through this universe of history that I had learned long ago one of many human tragedies that have held us back where we are. A sad commentary on what one man values another sees as not just trash but evil. A wonderful write my friend.
Thank you, Soren. I am glad that you found this journey through time and space worthy. It is fascinating and frightening to see how close to another Dark Age we are speeding toward. Time will tell, but I am glad the poem and its message delivered. Much appreciated, my friend. ❤️🙏
Now that is some piece of writing, knowledge has always been power, that's why they like to keep us minions in the dark. If we had more knowledge we would challenge that power. Regarding history it astonishes me how little some people know of the worlds history and the actual facts, if we do not acknowledge our history and learn from it, we can never make progress, a really great read
💯 Tobani. History is so vital, yet so many are ignorant of it...some even willfully ignorant. Dangerous people those are and dangerous times. Thank you, my friend. Glad the poem delivered and I truly value your thoughts and time. ❤️🙏
You are very welcome
Turn the light on then! heehee.
Well, given the flames and smoke, I'd say the light is on and that, in this case, may be the problem. LOL! Thank you, my friend.
The shape is beautiful, I can tell a lot of time was put into this and it was worth it! Wonderful writing as well.
Indeed, a lot of time was put into it for sure. It was so "easy" in my head, though. 🤣 Thank you, my dear friend. I am glad that you found it worthy and that the poem overall delivered. Much appreciated! ❤️🙏
A tribute: To the richness of the history, about which I know nothing; the validity of our earthbound situation as depicted here, the form and the prose with which it is defined.
That form itself is something to behold, and as I struggle to publish my simple verse, I shall be forever intimidated by thoughts of your monumental effort, Tristan. 🥹
Thank you, my friend. Yikes, I hope not intimidated. With that said, thank you so much, Dave! I am humbled and honored by your words. Your time, thoughts, and support are always appreciated! ❤️🙏
.................................... Astronomical .. the shape of things to come 🚀🌍🌎🌏🌒🌖😎👍
Indeed! Love what you did there, my friend! Thank you so much for your time, your read, and your creative engagement. Much appreciated! ❤️🙏
Hmm. Thinkest thou so, dear friend? What haunts every single reading of this superbly rendered history lesson is the burning, burning of the arts...for it is merely a foretaste of the promised end. As for those in power whom some of the populace cry against and others cherish, we have no record of that world obliterated in the flood, yet apparently are in headlong pursuit of reattaining the same. Food for thought, no? Thank you for sharing your expertise. Expertly rendered with excellent imagery and a fitly haunting poignancy. Thank you again.
Thank you, Missy, for your time and feedback. To answer your initial question, I do think so...or at least we seem to be. As a student of history, I cannot ignore the vast similarities. The differences? Time, place, some circumstances, technological advances. The similarities: everything else, starting with the propensity for human ignorance to really muck things up.Had we not destroyed the Library of Alexandria, we might have answers to some of those "pre-flood" questions. As for the trajectory, yes...we are repeating the mistakes of the past and, sadly, I suppose we probably always will so long as we focus on what frightens us and fuel the fires on which freedoms and progress burn. Maybe I am wrong, but empires (and the USA is an empire) always overreach for their benefit and "interests" to the detriment of everyone else, which ends up being the destruction of any sort of progress said empires have brought to the world. So, I do see us descending into another dark age...banned books, propaganda, oligarchies and serfdom...it seems to be a real possibility, if not probability. Though I hope I am wrong. I really hope I am. Thank you, my friend, for engaging. I truly appreciate it and it always brings me hope that there are thoughtful, caring, and engaged people in the world. ❤️🙏
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