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By Orlock
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20 April 2008 |
Hi everyone,
This is a poem I wrote back in 2004 after visiting Sorrento in the bay of Naples. Whilst there I paid a visit to Pompeii and was fascinated by the ruins there and started to wonder what life must have been like for the Romans when the volcano erupted all those centuries ago.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, and any feedback would be very welcome.
Kind regards
Orlock
Pompeii
Drift back in time, to seventy-nine AD,
When the town of Pompeii, still slept by the sea.
Before the volcano reduced it to ruin,
Imagine the Romans and what they were doing.
Conjure up in your mind a town bustling with life:
The centurion with his gladius, the mugger his knife,
The baker on the street, selling pastries and bread,
The Christians in the arena, the hungry lions fed.
Picture the Romans by their Doric colonnade,
Busy in the forum, with barter and trade,
Pleased with their purchase of olives and pears,
Unaware of Vesuvius, and the danger it bears.
In the lupanar, something else is for sale,
To tickle the fancy of the randy young male.
Point to a fresco, you have only to choose
A delectable darling to grope and abuse.
Some head for the theatre, to catch a show,
Not realising the lava is ready to flow.
A Plautine comedy may be the talk of the town,
But soon another show will bring the house down!
Suddenly the volcano begins to explode,
And panic-stricken Romans take to the road.
Some hide in the baths, provided by the state,
But this will not save them from a sauna-like fate.
Can you hear the chariots, racing down the street?
Down by the crossroads, where two fountains meet?
And the cry of the senator, who can’t find his daughter?
And the riot of Romans, fighting for water?
Boiling blankets of pumice and volcanic ash
Smother the Romans in their last frantic dash.
Remember the dog, still chained to his post,
Whose master had left him and fled for the coast?
Pompeii remains a marvel, as it once must have been,
And the Romans live on there, as ghosts on the scene.
Go look for yourself, through this window on time,
Before another eruption puts pay to my rhyme.|
good poem
Written by Bandera (4 comments posted) 20th April 2008 | Really enjoyed you work - it's rhythm and pictures conjured!  |
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