Rome Poem by John Lars Zwerenz

ROME




I




It is a warm, gilded summer in majestic Rome.

Minerva, in her ecstasy, with eyes of sable brown

Under clear, azure skies beaming over the town,

Dreams of true love beneath the luster of its dome.

Over the emerald heights of seven hills,

Glistening like Hadrian's daffodils,

Shimmering upon the Pantheon's tiers

The summer sun's light

Gilds the milky white

Magnificent columns of its tall, ivory piers.



II




The Colosseum's row of luminous colonnades

Gilded by the setting diamond rays of the sun

Glimmers and shines, as it glows as one;

Beginning to bleed, it fantastically fades.




Languishing murmurs flow from the stream

Where emerald garlands and willow trees

Emit sweet scents in the Latin breeze

Where Vespasian's vassals caress and dream.


III




And as Diana walks in her moonlit garden

Catullus writes of an amorous glen

Where crimson roses are married to the vine,

Near majestic verandas, silver and bright.

He is entranced by the radiant, rapturous sight

Of Etruscan maids and Bacchanalian wines

As the bright, northern star above him shines

In the sacred balm

Of the hallowed night.



Then, softly, silently, solemnly and calm

The nascent evening slowly does descend

Along with Cleopatra's Egyptian power

Over white, dappled boughs which quiver as they bend.


IV




Then, by the Tiber, like redolent wreaths

Venus kneeling, gently bequeaths

Among slender fountains in her mystic bower,

To the ruddy lips of her eternal lover

Beneath leafy lindens which sway and hover

In scented silhouettes of amorous bliss,

In the grace of the hour

The glory of a kiss.