empire expansion [decisive battles, violence]
rewards for his headway [demands for a Triumph]
trapped in an archway [a visual simile]
or public relations [of glorious symmetry]
to demonstrate a city outgrown by a man
by miscalculation or ingenious plan
a show of societas under blood-red sky
the crowd make clear where their sympathies lie

faced men with javelins [terrifying spectacle]
the horror of slaughter [screaming was incredible]
a clamour for clemency [a battle of pride and elegance]
just don't forget his name [we remember, like the elephants]

what's that we see in the ruins of an empire?
one man's obsession or one more unheeded lesson?
they colonised the continents and spread like bacteria
Scotland to Egypt, Portugal to Syria

roads, shipping, engineering
public water, telephone
weapon systems, agriculture
mining, building, concrete, stone
indoor plumbing, sanitation
strength and speed of innovation
domes and arches, dams and bridges
continental subjugation

land unfit for them to settle
poisoning by heavy metal
barbarian hordes, in-fighting
omens in dead birds and lightning
breakdown of their civic pride
plagues throughout the countryside
new religions grow in favour
lost their grip on captured neighbours

global domination was the essence of the dream
could have been the future but for iron and steam...

last of the Romans
those who forgot that
the elephant is intelligent and virtuous
wrinkles her grey face at mankind's enterprises

o chariot, second to none
o chariot, carry us on

i, the elephant, wrote this