Baronhawk's Nest

In the early days of faith
lived a great king named Abrahah
ruling his great estates
in his lands upon Arabia.

A great ruler
a majestic king
with a million subjects
seeing to his whims.

An army he has
mounted on elephants
numbering in thousands
what a sight beholden.

But with his wealth
and perilous might
comes the spectre of pride
the undoings of faith.

As Mecca's holy shrine
the Ka'abah was a prime
visited by the throngs
touched by thousands of pilgrim hands.

A great king was Abrahah
a follower of scriptured texts
but envious he was
of Mecca's great behest.

A monument he builds
to rival the Ka'abah
to pull away the trails
of pilgrims to his vale.

Alas but for naught
no one did even sought
to travel to Abrahah's
to the monument he create.

So enraged he became
that he seek to pound
the walls of Ka'abah
into bits on the ground.

A boast he made
mounting his elephants
a great army he led
to Mecca's sacred grounds.

Avaunt his soldiers
the elite of the day
marching through deserts
oases and Bedouin camps.

The Quraish lords of Mecca
were caught unawares
with caravans in trading
their kabilahs in disarray.

No army can they mount
to protect nor to defend
Mecca's sacred grounds
were exposed to Abrahah's lunge.

So the lords of Mecca
the kabilahs of Quraish
lift their hands in prayer
to God they did beseech.

So approached the army of Abrahah
to the sacred grounds of Mecca
trampling all in their path
with great tremors in their wrath

As they drew nearer
God did send and dispatch
the force of heaven's will
to seal Abrahah's fate

Giant birds of prey
ladened with stones from hell
covering the desert skies
with a rain of fiery hail.

Upon both elephant and men
do rain these stones from hell
piercing through armor and skin
with shrieks too awful to tell.

Throughout the desert skies
echoed their deathly cries
ripped and rend to shreds
by the stones straight from hell.

So perished Abrahah
a once and mighty king
whose pride pulleth down
of his glory no one does sing.

So ends this tale
of Abrahah and his pride
a lesson to instill
lest as too often we forget.