Classic Poem

There, at dawn, they set the offerings before the stones
memorializing heroes outside a village with only a few families,
who brew liquor in their houses, bathe in their good water and light
lamps fueled with ghee, so that their streets are sweetened by the cloud
of abundant smoke. Though that territory is secure and dominating, it seems
like a hole where snakes with striped necks live! Each day,
ignoring the suffering of kings, the noble man whose fame
is celebrated gives gifts generously
to bards within that city he protects. And he holds back nothing!