Oh Asmara! (Poem & Pictures)

Newly built park in Asmara with post independence constructed buildings behind it

OH ASMARA!

Oh, Asmara!!!

Africa’s Pompeii

What can I write?

Or what can I say to thee?

Thou art the beautiful city

With long streets

And broad avenues

Overshadowed by palm trees

Beneath magnificent edifices

Of Italian villas and flats.

The monuments and palaces

With their Doric columns

Borrowed by the Romans

From war-like Greeks

Who were their subjects.

The Coptic church

With Byzantine icons

And twin towers

Like Metera and obelisks

Standing tall …..

Above the entrance walls

Overlooking the Mosque

Which one can see in wonder

The beauty of Islamic architecture.

The nearby Cathedral
A reminiscence of Gothic art

In this very heart

Of our sacred city

Once full of opera houses

Where the colonial masters

Used to entertain

During the hay day.

Asmarina, oh, Asmarina

Che bella……..!

-Haile

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