by Rohan Buettel

The tragedy of great undertakings
lies in their coming to an end.
Constantine XI Palaiologus
fighting at the city walls
in fourteen fifty-three,
dying while resisting to the last.
What remained of fifteen centuries
of a Roman Empire falling
to the Ottoman Turks.
A city strategically placed
at the crossroads of Europe and Asia;
successfully holding off
the sweep of Arab conquests;
the defensive benefits of a peninsula site
and strong land walls finally failing,
with the latest developments in artillery,
the ineluctable march of technology.
A city long diminished, never the same
after its loss of the resources of Anatolia
and its sack in the fourth crusade.
Today we visit and marvel
at the Byzantine wonders that remain,
sorrow at what was lost.