Breath, Sex, Battle, Flesh, Death

In this ancient place
The arena is for all to enter
How one survives depends
Upon the role they play
Upon the stage

Warriors and war prisoners fight
Unequal battles
Before the crowds
Who cheer the slaughter
Satisfied with the blood
The victors need no laurels
These enemies were unarmed
With names no one will remember
And bodies cast out
As feed for the wild beasts
Any remnants of life dismembered

The slaves and eunuchs
Maneuvering their masters
Through their wit and wiles 
To be the ones in actual power
By acting subservient
And with manipulation
They show that they are clever
They rule in the shadows of daylight
And in the corridors of quiet
In the night

In the harem chambers
Wives, and consorts 
Privately speak, and bathe
Before the Caliph returns
Before they must bow before him
To reveal themselves and
To welcome his entreaties
To satiate his lust in many turns
One by one they enter his chamber
And he is moved less and less
And does not remember even their names
With his passions emptied

The world they all live in
Is brutal and unforgiving
Each makes a sacrifice
Inside their rooms
Chambers, barracks
And cages to endure
To keep on living
Until freedom comes
Perhaps tomorrow
If not the next day
We'd like to think we are different
But we also do this
In modernity
Every single day
Making our offerings
Fighting our battles
Trying to endure our servitude
However we can