Found Iraqi antiquities poem

Greetings,

Iraq sits on the land
of ancient Mesopotamia,
the "land between two rivers,"
home to prehistoric man and
the cradle of civilization.

On the banks
of the Tigris and Euphrates,
the Mesopotamians
were the first people
to study the stars,
develop the written word and
enforce a legal code.

Standing among shards
of glass
outside the Iraqi National Museum,
Dr. Moayad Damerji
said
the objects and artifacts which bore witness
to mankind's development
had vanished,
their loss immeasurable.

"The Iraqi National Museum is the only museum in the world
which shows all the steps in the history of mankind,"
said the professor of archaeology at Baghdad University,
and the former director general of the Iraqi Department of Antiquities.

"These witnesses
to our own development
have gone,
they are gone."

Among the most
priceless treasures
missing
are the Vase of Uruk
and the Harp of Ur,
dating back
to between 3,000 and 2,500 BC
and the rule of the Sumerian kings.

The exquisite bronze Statue of Basitki
from the Akkadian kingdom
is also gone,
somehow hauled out
of the museum
despite its huge weight.

Peace.