Rhodes, Greece

The Colossus had crumbled

back through the ages

but in my mind it was

every rock along the shore

every stone beneath the waves

fallen pieces once forming

a broken base, torso, head,

an arm outstretched to Helios

This once wonder of the ancient world

gone, giving way to new notoriety

for now everywhere it was cats

a feline infestation holding residence

pawing at the sand on the beach

poised along the rails in statue repose

slinking into the shadows that hold

the bird, fish, further prey

When asked a local tells me how

when the Olympics last came to Athens

they rounded up all strays aboard a

ferry and shipped them to this island

adrift at sea, coming to port by the

thousands, peacefully taking over as

new conquerors of Rhodes, doing

what the besieger Poliorcetes had failed to