Читать книгу Nineveh - Henrietta Rose-Innes - Страница 6

And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds; for he shall uncover the cedar work.

This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in!

Zephaniah 2:14–15

My possessions, like a flock of rooks rising up, have risen in flight. He who came from the south has carried my possessions off to the south – I shall cry “O my possessions!” He who came from the highlands has carried my possessions off to the highlands – I shall cry “O my possessions!” The swamp has swallowed my treasures...Men ignorant of silver have filled their hands with my silver. Men ignorant of gems have fastened my gems around their necks. My small birds and fowl have flown away – I shall say “Alas, my city”...Woe is me, my city which no longer exists – I am not its queen. I am not its owner. I am the good woman whose house has been made into ruins, whose city has been destroyed, in place of whose city a strange city has been built.

Lament for Ur (The goddess Ningal weeps for her city) c. 2000 BC

I feel like an old war-horse at the sound of the trumpet, when I read about the capturing of rare beetles.

Charles Darwin 1854