A Culture Vanished

The city streets abandoned lie,
Their stony paths untrod;
The houses sit forgotten by
As vultures wheel above.

Forsaken is this ancient town
That once was filled with life;
Where merchants had traversed abroad,
Where shone the summer’s light.

But winter came, and warmth did flee
The homes within this place.
The children singing merrily
Lay buried in the grave.

For rather than prepare for cold
The people still would play,
Stop up their ears from warnings told,
 And waste away their days.

So when at last the snow did fall
And blizzards howling came,
The townsmen did forsake their halls
 To flee the storms in vain.

Alas! they swiftly met their end
‘Ere warmer climes they found:
In hunger’s pangs they named the dead
Laid in the rocky ground.

Their city now is wolves’ abode,
The haven of the stork.
The people heeded not sound word,
But did refuse to work.

Thus, generations ended swift,
An ancient line did die;
For rather than perfect their gift
They fallow let it lie.