A view. Of this orderly desert

by Yury Milorava
translated by Anna Halberstadt

A view.  Of this orderly desert,
not at all created by nature,
400 carts of salt had been gathered
there are two points of reference here, but what has been left
is not even worth mentionng
(unless you would consider     but after the destruction of all local
literature, a treatise, that one
was allowed to take out of the country «On Agriculture» by Magon,
translated by Decimus Junius Silanus)
___________________________

battering rams.     and torches.
they ploughed a burnt down field
and brought there these 400 carts.

Today this is sand with crumbs
Or maybe already pollen in sand?—there no shapes left of
buildings foundations, streets or
squares, and people do not live here any longer
450, 000 people murdered,
50,000—taken into slavery
outside the borders of this white stain there is joy
Delightful Cool of the Atlass Mountains     and the sand dunes of
Sahara desert
full of minerals and breathing fire     and
the frothy aquamarine of the Mediterranean sea
on the horizon.                       And generous green peaceful olive
groves

there the predatory Empire Eagle had a ball.

Since then this a an eternal holiday for the vacationing
and the world’s largest collection of Roman mosaics     from little
pieces of marble
colored every shade one can imagine the splendour takes your
breath away
but not a single fragment even a piece of, could not be found of a
Carthaginian
painting—floor mosaic, and Carthage itself is no longer natural
habitat for the bird Phoenix…
and nothing     even moth does not fly here.  And because this
place is so popular and interesting
and educational, tour guides had been bringing here for a little
while for the last 19 centuries
hordes of maniacal vacationers and traveling fanatics, obsessed
with one ridiculous phrase and a
crazy idea by the deep thinker and writer Cato the Elder, born
Marcus Porcius Cato.