We wouldn't know
A guest from god
So we treat one as
We would the other
We didn't know
The one we hosted now
Was a goddess
Who when wronged
Would show no mercy
To king or his subjects
Somehow we too failed her ---
We, whose ancestors saved
The dark god-child from the tyrant ---
What would I say to the saint
Who put the two in our hands?
How we sent them to die --
Our guests from far
Looking for redemption?
How would I face my kin?
Who would absolve me of my guilt?
The fire she brought down on the city
Did not spread this far
She may have asked it to spare me
Not in any way faulting me for her fate
But how could I not take the blame
As did my king and his queen?
Let these flames of the waste heap
Burn me and rid me of my shame
Let the legends say what guests meant to us
And what we did when we somehow failed them.
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