79 AD
A pine shaped cloud
in the August sky
signaled them too late.
By the 25th,
everything was gone.
No CNN to sing obliteration,
only Pliny the Younger
to scratch what fell
in a few short paragraphs
of living Latin.
Did sailors
home from the sea
find an altered world
the 26th?
Or, worse,
the part of the world they loved
erased for them forever
which we pick at now
in calm, archaeological
detachment?
in the August sky
signaled them too late.
By the 25th,
everything was gone.
No CNN to sing obliteration,
only Pliny the Younger
to scratch what fell
in a few short paragraphs
of living Latin.
Did sailors
home from the sea
find an altered world
the 26th?
Or, worse,
the part of the world they loved
erased for them forever
which we pick at now
in calm, archaeological
detachment?
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"No CNN to sing obliteration,
only Pliny the Younger
to scratch what fell
in a few short paragraphs
of living Latin."
Awesome. A creative snapshot Gary. Enjoyed!
Very to the point. I like it, Gary. Nice work.
Thanks very much, Roberto and Sam, for reading and commenting. I am very grateful.
I like what you do here. *
Thank you, Beate.
The plaster casts of Pompeians
I saw in National Geographic have haunted me for decades.
Smell the sulphur. Well done.
Thanks very much, James.