Tribute to Thebes

Upon raised plains you’ve built your walls
As protection when a stranger calls
Upon your Acropolis you stall
Until the day your defenses fall
Though inside Kadmus your ruler waits
Not even Cithaeron can stop the fates
As over and over again Sparta baits
Chances grow slim to escape dire straits
Pindar’s light tone carries you through
As Sparta makes fools- again out of you
When up from the slums brave and true
Rises Epaminondas granting freedoms anew
With this freedom your cities grow
The arts and culture start to flow
Creative thinkers rise from below
Reinventing literature as they steal the show
Aeschylus in tribute to your seven will
Portray a battle stirred by feelings ill
Where family loyalty wins out still
Versus your rulers’ intent to kill
Of course with aid from Sophocles
Your city is brought down to her knees
when a neighbor in Delphi who always sees
warns of the disaster of your monarchies
Ode to you Thebes though curses you hold
Tragic tales fill your streets misfortunes untold
Blessings to Thebes in hopes to you fate is less cold
As your future awaits and your history unfold