Axis & Allies - damowords

Spanish Rebirth
The troubador descended from the ben,
With him was human artistry allied,
Singing of arms & empires & the men
Who battles fought & kingdoms gentrified;
Bold verses fired
The Castillian court,
What balladry inspired the reconquista fought!
El Cidʹs brave endeavours enflamed
The grave Spanish militia,
Who were, for far too long, ashamed
Of Hispanic patria,
Navarra, Aragon, reclaimʹd
With gold Galicia,
Where no more rose the five‐times daily din
Of the worship‐summoning Muezzin.
The Almohads of Africa
Were sent to stem the tide,
Grand Grenada’s land‐armada,
But murder met their stride
When seven progressive Islamic centuries had died.
Las Navas de Toloda
1212
The Mongol Threat
Dark tribes have unified beneath one king,
Traverse the Gobi to the Chinese Wall,
Bring all their might to bare upon Beijing,
Conquer & then absorb her cultured soul;
Karakorum
New heart of history,
Mongol imperium marches into glory.
By mountain, forest, steppe & sea
Ride the Khanʹs ambassadors,
Insulting Persian perfidy ‐
Two of them sent back headless
Decapitates diplomacy ‐
Ghengiz grows vehemous
& pointing westward with a frozen sword
A storm of arrows oer the Silk Road soarʹd.
The blood‐debt settlʹd & repaid
Five hundred thousand times,
A cavalcade of violence flayʹd
A path thro Persian climes,
Both Christendom & Islam tremble at the Mongol crimes.
Asia
1222