PrintPoem – LIFE AFTER DEATH (By Ray Gallucci)
LIFE AFTER DEATH
(One Day in Pompeii)
We walk the stones of Pompeii
Where grooves from chariots live
And try to fathom that day
When Mt. Vesuvius heaved.
The mountain belched now and then
Whenever Vulcan saw fit
To blow his bellows again
And clean his forges of grit.
Some smoke and ashes the norm.
The nuisance always would pass.
At worst, sky blackened would form
And smell of sulfurous gas.
Evoked no special alarm
In August 79.
“Some smoke and ash – what’s the harm?
By evening all will be fine.”
But when some hours had passed
And fallout seemed to increase,
“Appears this time it will last,”
Eroding semblance of peace.
Some pumice started to fall
With lava embers aglow
The only light ‘mid the pall
As night entombed all below.
Wherever breath still survived
(Perhaps who fled to the sea),
Now gases stifling contrived
To Pompeii’s death guarantee.
Yet still Vesuvius belched,
Expunged all traces until
Millennium and a half
A man dug into a hill.
Beneath Vesuvian soil,
They found Rome frozen in time
Since none could ever despoil
A city no one could find.
So now like Romans we walk
The stones with chariot grooves,
And hope perhaps they can talk
Of life and death that they knew.
(Published in NOMAD’S CHOIR, Summer 2010, Vol. 18, Issue 3)
Author Bio:
I am a Professional Engineer who has been writing poetry since 1990. I am an incorrigible rhymer, tending toward the skeptical/cynical regarding daily life. I have been fortunate to have been published in poetry magazines and on-line journals such as NUTHOUSE, MOTHER EARTH INTERNATIONAL, FEELINGS/POETS’ PAPER, MÖBIUS (when Jean Hull Herman published), PABLO LENNIS, MUSE OF FIRE, SO YOUNG!, THE AARDVARK ADVENTURER, POETIC LICENSE, THUMBPRINTS, UNLIKELY STORIES, BIBLIOPHILOS, FULLOSIA PRESS, NOMAD’S CHOIR, HIDDEN OAK, PABLO LENNIS, POETSESPRESSO, SOUL FOUNTAIN, WRITER’S JOURNAL, ATLANTIC PACIFIC PRESS, DERONDA REVIEW, LYRIC, THE STORYTELLER, WRITE ON! and DANA LITERARY SOCIETY.