Axis & Allies - damowords

Canto 2
The birth of England, France & Germany,
their first crusade against Islam
Carolingia
On Christmas Day was crownʹd great Charlemagne;
Conquering kings far from his place of birth
Renews the music of the Ceasar strain,
His armies birds in sky & trees on earth;
Once more empire
Upon the planet won,
When hot, white seed would sire & crown a spotless son.
This pious Loius took a wife,
That Gabriel should deem good,
Thro midnight passions conjured life
Protecting his paterʹs blood,
Each wise as Rome, each fair as Fife,
Each strong as Flemish wood,
Each gatherʹd by their fatherʹs dying bed ‐
He drew them close & choking phlegm then said,
Riding swiftly, Minaya Alvar Fanez kill’d thirty‐four Moors
with his sharp sword; his arm was staion’d with the blood
dripping down to his elbow.
ʺNone of you shall be emporer,
But each a realm shall reign;
Italia, Germania,
The Franks & Aquitaine...ʺ
Then with his lands divided from his heart warm blood did
drain.
Aachen
843
The Poem of ‘The Cid’