I was built from the best they could muster, marble, stone and their concrete.

Through my process of being made I saw them transfixed on my shape, my size. All I could hold and all I could be used for.

Pillars and an overhang to shade those when time within was done, interior built for use of public for and government. For kings to speak and for the men to share.

I was finished, carved out to perfection and sturdy unlike any they’d built before.

I housed them, heard stories and accusations many times over, hundreds filled me and were shaded by me.

I saw rain, fire, shaking and them running. Sometimes out of joy, sometimes out of anger.

But they were always there, draped in white or brown. Class led them to see their level and what use those below were.

Countless times they filed in and filed out, spoke kindly of kings and gossiped about neighbours.

And all at once they stopped.

I saw them leave once and come back in fewer numbers, but at once it never happened again.

Time passed and I remained, the people I had seen using me for countless purposes, building me from their hard earned stones and minerals. We’re gone.

Parts of me fell. And I couldn’t fix it, I could only be there for the people who had left me to crumble.

But I stood firm.

And then it happened, someone came once more. But left again.

I was probed for my age and eventually was something to awe at. Countless people now arrive in front of me, simply to stop and stare.

I was great, I am a ruin. And now,

I am a great ruin