Worksheet # 7 Home Questions Puzzle Links Next
GREAT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE AMERICAS: THE
MAYANS
While
still further to south where thick jungles do grow
Were
even more cultures in what's now Mexico.
They
grew large in size, were dynamic and bright,
And
lived with much grandeur, insight and might.
As
in the far off past, in the vast rain forests,
The
Mayan peoples were making their
grand conquests.
Starting
from scratch in the those hot humid climes
They
soon made a world to astound for all times.
Yes,
deep in hot jungles with their lush undergrowth,
Stone
cities were built for king and commoner both.
Where
their culture soon flourished and their empire grew
Out
of the harsh swamplands and into the blue.
With
the most striking of feats born of Mayan hands,
Like
a proper year's calendar and farmable lands.
And
when rains didn't fall and crops started to dry,
Reservoirs underground helped those Mayans get by.
Gold
jewels, grand homes and such exquisite sculpture
Were
still more hallmarks of this amazing culture,
Who
studied the stars, from evening to morn,
To
learn the best days to harvest the corn.
They
did their mathematics and (skipping specifics)
Used
a language of pictures, what we call hieroglyphics.
YouÕll
find it most often rocks and on walls
Where
figures and drawings and markings and scrawls
Tell
a legend or story to those in the know,
In
words without letters, the MayanÕs artful memo.
While high atop Mayan towns a holy temple would sit
On
their grandest of feats: the stone pyramid.
Which
reached up to the sun and stepped into the skies
To
raise toward the heavens each worshipperÕs eyes.
And
high priests would there hold sacrifices and prayers
To
please Mayan gods and relieve Mayan cares.
