Lalibela, Ethiopia; King Lalibala, A Poem

From King Lalibala
(who was renowned for his magnificent structures)

To mighty Lalibala Peace,

     Who stately Structures rear’d,

And to adorn the Pompous piles

      For no Expences spar’d.

By vast Expence and hideous pains,

       The Rock a Church became:

The Roof, the Floor, the squared Sides

       All one continu’d Frame.

No stones in blended Mortar lay’d

        The solid parts divide;

Nature has carved all without,

        Within the Workman’s Pride.

by an Ethiopian poet quoted by Job Ludolph in
"A New History of Ethiopia", 

translated by J.P., Gent, 1682.

 J.P. was Milton's nephew, John Phillips.

Stills from my film (watch it onYouTube)

Aid did more harm than good to Ethiopia’s World Heritage churches, The Times