Out from the dawn Rides the mounted hellspawn In numbers unfathomed To blot out the sun Temujin’s progeny Ascended to the saddle To pillage and extort the weak To subjugate them all In the cradle Of civilization The world’s knowledge centered For dissemination Reality contorted By violence and destruction Each city burns In rapid succession “Hold the gates Don’t let them break through” Final pleas Of a crumbling caliphate City under siege They stand their ground in vain And human innovation Is gripped by the throat Maternal river Flowing black and red Blood and ink Coalesce in amnesia This heart Of scholarship So cruelly Abrogated Is the final gasp Of a golden age Converging their armies On the city of peace Baring their teeth With a taste for violence Destruction unsurpassed For eight hundred years Commenced at the wave Of Hulagu’s hand Hundreds of thousands Condemned to atrocity Paying in their lives For royal decadence A tragic stage of history Deprivation of learning Lost in the West Yet the echo remains Murderous and verminous With fleeting dreams of permanence Taking advantage of Complacent gluttony Maternal river Flowing black and red Blood and ink Coalesce in amnesia This heart Of scholarship So cruelly Abrogated Is the final gasp Of a golden age Sadistically inflicted Was this calculated punishment Seven days of pillage In response to their defiance Impotent leadership Punished for its failure Trampled upon a carpet “Such was God’s will” Baghdad burns It burns Baghdad burns It burns Converging their armies On the city of peace Baring their teeth With a taste for violence Destruction unsurpassed For eight hundred years Commenced at the wave Of Hulagu’s hand Hundreds of thousands Condemned to atrocity Paying in their lives For royal decadence A tragic stage of history Deprivation of learning Lost in the West Yet the echo remains Murderous and verminous With fleeting dreams of permanence Taking advantage of Complacent gluttony The ineffectual Caliph Who failed to defend a culture Starved in the very treasures He betrayed prerogative for Maternal river Flowing black and red Blood and ink Coalesce in amnesia This heart Of scholarship So cruelly Abrogated Is the final gasp Of a golden age Maternal river Flowing black and red Blood and ink Coalesce in amnesia This heart Of scholarship So cruelly Abrogated Is the final gasp Of a golden age “Hold the gates Don’t let them break through” Final pleas Of a crumbling caliphate City under siege They stand their ground in vain And human innovation Is gripped by the throat