I am, for just this moment,
conquistador of the blank page,
my words stabbing 
the white autocracy of silence,
as I survey the terrain, 
contours, ravines, craters,
of an uncertain empire -
the splash of calligraphy, 
the smudge of syllable 
on unmapped paper.

And you who look away,
as I seize this moment 
and ride it fleetingly,
do you fear that if you look me in the eye
at this terrifying instant 
of omnipotence,
that I shall surge 
into your frontiers
and claim for my own 
the sleeping mohenjodaros of your mind?


Mohenjo-daro meaning 'Mound of the Dead Men'; is an archaeological site in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. 
Built around 2500 BCE, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation, and one 
of the world's earliest major cities, contemporaneous with the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, 
Minoan Crete, and Norte Chico. Mohenjo-daro was abandoned in the 19th century BCE as the Indus Valley 
Civilization declined, and the site was not rediscovered until the 1920s.