PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

This is a elegy, but not for: This is a elegy, but not for one specific person. What is mourned, fervently and with "hot tears", is summarized with ferocious beauty in these lines:   "Wild forces---Vesuvius, or imperial Rome--- always exert the lethal powers that destroy the delicately exquisite that we hold sacred."   In this realm of injustice and "lethal powers" where Darwinian aggression is the law of the land, some things are too tender to survive, too beautiful to endure.   This is the realization that crushes Vincenzo, a rare, gentle soul who internalizes the victims' tragedy; He's a man who, unlike most people, has the ideals and the empathy to contemplate the lessons of the past.   Vesuvius is an epic, meaningful metaphor for the countless cruelties and senseless tragedies that cut down the fragile reeds of society before they have a chance to grow. With this brutal reality looming large above him (as you so ingeniously illustrated in lines 11, 12 and 13 that allude to the great loss in Alexandria), Vincenzo becomes a victim himself, a symbol of all the fatalities of oppression and irrational fear. With poignant simplicity and symbolism, our bereaved lover of lovers walks home, shoeless, silenced and alone.   Perfect.   That image stayed with me while its symbolism hung in the air like smoke.   A gorgeously composed and brilliantly condensed saga. Well done!