Michael J. Whelan – Tibnine Castle, Peacekeeping S. Lebanon
CRUSADER’S KEEP
There is a fire sky hanging
over Tibnine,
a blood sky, drowning
the ramparts of the Lionheart’s keep,
transforming white walls to red.
And I wonder if the Christian king
who built this castle saw skies like this,
heard the echoes of Alexander the Great
as he sacked Sidon and Tyre
two thousand years before,
like I hear the drums of Saracens
and Crusaders in this disputed place.
Michael J. Whelan
(Richard The Lionheart is said to have slept in Tibnine Castle.
The castle, built during the Crusades, is currently
situated within the Irish battalion area of peacekeeping
operations in South Lebanon).
Published in a sequence of six poems titled TRUTH by Mark Ulyseas in L.E. Poetry Magazine – January 2018 Issue
