Three Word Prompt: arabesque, labyrinthine, nemesis

The arabesque elaborate,

With filigree to decorate,

Is haunting in its melody,

But has a forged pedigree.

The music of the Arab world

Is quite distinct; its heart is curled

Around another stable base;

The arabesque won't know its face.

Its character is mythical

Made up by trouveres' whimsical

Ideas of "others" they've not met,

Nor read about, and we forget

The differences between the source

And what we're taught is true, of course

The labyrinthine twists of culture

Catch and feed like any vulture

Upon the corpse of truth forgotten

Laying in the darkness, rotten.

For those who'd know of other lands,

'Tis best to touch them with their hands,

And not believe unfounded tales

That peddlers wove to increase sales.

The nemesis of seeing clearly

Is prejudice--assumptions, merely

Stereotypes we take for granted

Unaware whose hand has planted

Seeds of fiction in our mind

Deceived, we all are so unkind.

But we can learn, so we should,

If we endeavour to be good!