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I. 1297
Idol's eye
plucked from a marble
socket, chipped and recut
to shine. The eye gleamed
while the idol laughed in a temple
by a river as blood flowed
over his diamond eye.
II. 1513
Machiavelli's arms were taut,
he learned the strappado
and passed it on, catching
thrushes unawares
by their wings and sent them
to the Florentines
as Ibrahim Lodi's mother had handed
the Koh-I-Noor to Babur:
homage.
III. 1539
La Malinche the Aztecs spat;
Cortes embraced the slave
girl from the sea, Marina
he called her, his tongue and ears.
She spoke for him as the diamond
spoke to Humayun.
Stealing away with a Mountain
of Light, the Mogul left
his son and clung to the stone.
"Such precious gems cannot be bought;
only wrested by earthly scimitars
or divine wills," he said, plucking
the glittering eye of his Peacock Throne.
IV. 1852
Victoria watched the Koh-I-Noor,
as half-wasted
it perched in a bird cage in a crystal palace in Hyde Park,
and disappointed.
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