How calm and majestic you look today,
Almost at peace with your miserable past.
Your memory fails you Vesuvius,
Remember ?
Nineteen hours of belching out gas.
Peering down from your volcanic throne,
You stand silent there in the background.
As if nothing had happened here,
Forgetting
Pompeii was once a rich thriving town.
No shame,not a sign or glimpse of remorse
The old,young,weak and the strong,
You betrayed everyone of them.
Remember
Spewing lava from a vile angry tongue.
Even the children lay in cast where they fall,
Mothers cry, and clutch the unborn.
Begging with out stretched arms,
Calling
Vesuvius, will no kind mercy be shown.
Crouching statues, cocoons of black rock,
Ash settles on the unfortunate ground.
This mummified town ceases,
While
Clouds of dust sail to neighbouring towns.
Behind stale breath a threatening groan,
Past events have taught us never to trust.
So we watch with a suspicious eye,
Concerned
Wondering what stirs beneath the earth's crust.
Pompeii sleeps soundly, veiled in grey molten lead,
So silent in slumber, closely guarding her dead.
It's here in the warmth of the late afternoon sun,
That I realise how fragile this earth has become.
Pain and suffering echoes, woven in blue pastel skies,
Everything except Vesuvius just crumbles and dies.
Author notes
Pompeii is such a sad place to visit, so quiet sitting there below the great Vesuvius, but I feel happy that I was able to visit, and feel the still quiet which is echoed right through this sleeping town.
Written October 14th, 2005
Time shows us how fragile this earth is, you only have to think of all the natural tragedies that we have seen through the ages.
In a list
A contest entry
- I wrote better than that one!!! by Tattboyspet.
800 points, ended September 28, 2007, 23 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 24 of 24
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I have never had the opportunity to visit Pompeii, but from this write, it seems like a really sad city
Thank you for the entry
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First, let me thank you for entering my contest.
Second:
The flow and imagery was very well done. Creative perspective and conveyance. Easily related to. GREAT use of language, and anoglies. Original.
Very good -
Lovely such dark motivation on how people starved for death and n their agony must have felt soo much pain. I love this Great jobb
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this is well thought out well written and i love what it says....Joe
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Absolutely beautiful.
So informative, and bittersweet.
Awesome flow, and rhyme, as well as content, diction, and metaphors and similes are abundant. Just what I was looking for.
Best of luck in the contest.
~Sherry aka Eyes Of Rain~
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brilliant
got hooked by the title and was not disappointed...got some great lines with feeling and imagery. it seems almost impossible for me to try to understand what these people endured... i think it great to see respect paid to what these people suffered and today we can only offer that same respect...thank you .good luck -
A wonderful tribute. A lot of emotion and written with fervor.
It's nice to read something that pulls us into the past every once in a while - it makes you think. -
I Enjoyed reading your poem so much, Shaz. As always, your work is excellent...Good luck in my contest.
Lynda
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This is what I'm talkin bout!!! A historical event retold in a creative way. Excellent work here and all of your info was on the nose. I really hate it when people try and bs their way through a topic and it's obvious you didn't have to do that. Your allusions were great as were your diction and flow. My only suggestion would be to stretch your vocabulary when writing things like this. But of course that's just me.
WONDERFUL work.
Good luck in the contest! -
Excellent!!!!
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love the historical poem
ah so good!! I love this historical poem! it is so different- so unique!
i rember reading about pompai when i was younger- and i alwayss thought it was so sad how fast the people died. but at least it was quick..but soffocation wouldna be that fun... -
Wonderful -- just wonderful. The way you use your words. This is a must-read poetry, in my opinion
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Enjoyed reading your poem Shaz. good luck in the contest.
Love
Linda. -
goog
Great poem, I like it. I found it different from anything so far on my contest, but don't worry I still liked it. good luck on my contest.
Mary ;f -
This is a great write, truly amazing. I love how you blended the real with the mystical. A very good write.
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Definitely an interesting topic for a poem. I think I'd suggest one or two changes - mostly minor punctuation to more clearly shift emphasis to where you seem to want it (the last line of the fourth stanza comes to mind, a comma after Vesuvius perhaps) - but that's me. Thank you for sharing it!
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creative
This was different. You really put emotion into a tragedy that people don't really think about all that much. -
great job. I like this because i have always liked the poems that are about a historical event.
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I have not read a poem like this for a long time - hits deep and hits home. Very well written. Liked the photo too.
Edited on Oct 19, 6:59 because ''. -
Hi, good write, but Vesuvius is very much alive and kicking,I have visited Pompeii many times as I live in Italy and each time it never ceases to astound me,Vesuvius can awake at any time,let's hope she still keeps sleeping, all the best in the comp, Di
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Shaz this is a great write,showing the frailty of man, That in the end his tiny impact on this planet is soon forgotten.within the space of its time.The uncovering of Pompeii has to be one of the greatest wonders of modern times.Making each person there immortal.now thats some epitaph . a Wonderful read thank you Good luck in the contest
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your awsome to write this, its an awsome poem.i want so badly to visit Pompeii
anyways...awsome job
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I thought this was a very interesting poem. It was really enjoyable to read. [Oh, and I learned something!
] I also liked the unique thieme. Keep up the good work!
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very beautifully written poem Princess...and I love the unique theme. History or Discovery Channel had featured a documentary about Pompeii this past summer, and your poem reminded me to the tragedy the people of Pompeii faced at that time.
very good writing and glad that i was able to read this!
Jo
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