Beyond the Saharan dunes lies the shrouded mystery of Timbuktu <br />A golden mecca, an archaic metropolis of Africa true <br />Basking in the heavenly tides of the river Niger <br />Echoing her legacy like the growl of an indomitable tiger <br />Islam her true motto and cosmopolitan her sophisticated view <br />As she welcomes trekking travelers journeying in queue <br />As an internal civil war razed, as her destiny was uprooted <br />As warriors in blue veils sacrificed their lives for a cause deemed feted <br />As civilian strive to preserve the birth rite of the sapphire of North Africa <br />Where once traders flourished even under the cover of star <br />Her legacy desecrated like the towering Bamiyan sculptures <br />As terrorists of the soil ambushed the city center's acres <br />Now an evacuated ghost town bathing in the fragrance of nostalgia <br />As she pouts with a brave face shrouding her burning algesia <br />Yet, hope floats like a feather, for her revival like a phoenix <br />To bask once gain in the opulence of her culture from her contemporary nix <br />To unravel to us all the soul of her civilization, the essence of Timbuktu <br />A true heaven on earth in the midst of surging tides of the Niger blue<br /><br />Dilantha Gunawardana<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/timbuktu-4/
