April Anomalies A-Z: Xerxes

And now, doom to foreshew thee, a king shall rise in Persia, the fourth from this, rich in great riches beyond all the others; in the power such wealth gives him, he will set the whole world in motion against the realm of Greece … Daniel 11:2

He assembles his armies for war.

Never before such a levy of men,
assembled and armed for battle,
over five and a half million
men at his command.

Xerxes the great
is great in power.

He has but to speak the word
and they will rise to stand forth.
He has but to say “Go” and they will sail.

They shake the earth;
they drink the rivers dry.

The king of kings and lord of hosts
sends his assembled armies forth for war.

This is part of April Anomalies A-Z, a creative writing exercise and not intended to be an altogether accurate picture of the creature described above.