Someone scratched out the face
of Sennacherib
on the mural on the wall
in his chariot
wearing his pointed hat.
They obliterated his features.

Was it a Babylonian?
He had besieged
and burned their city
as the great winged bulls
stood silently by.

An indiscriminate massacre.
Mounds of bodies blocked streets.
Temples and palaces pillaged,
gods hacked apart.

In revenge they defaced him.