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Margherita
Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236
Eternity

0 posted 2008-03-22 03:33 PM



    


*


Palatine Hill sighs


*

Deferentially my feet touch
the ancient ground on the Palatine
making almost no sound.
Yet like radars they detect
layers of whispers entrapped,
eagerly surfacing ghosts
from the depth of centuries.

Names dance in my mind
along with flashes of Rome’s origins,
shrill echoes of betrayals and intrigues,
giggles of extreme eccentricities,
visions of unbounded lavishness.
Fragments of influential voices
of Emperors and of their wives,
senators and leaders of the army
weaving the destinies of people,
of their own offspring
and of the whole world,
pondering the cruelest revenge
for the disgraced.
And for the unfaithful slaves.

Yet, at the core
of all of these whispers
I hear tunes of nightingales
filling my soul with visions of beauty
and conveying the aching sweetness
and the intoxicating passion
of love, of love ...

With a leap into the present era
I hear now my own shy voice
saying “yes” to my groom
of Norman ancestry
in the little church of
San Bonaventura on the Palatine,
built upon this history soaked hill
gaping right into the Coliseum.
A senator, a general of the army
a philosopher, an artist,
our wedding witnesses…

And suddenly my destiny
entwines with the destinies
of those who inhabited this place
in long gone moments of time.

Their sighs of sorrow and love
now raise the layers of dust
under which they slumbered
while waiting to join my own sighs,
deep, cosmic and endless,
rolling in alternate waves
of panic and ecstasy
over the forgotten splendor
of this monument
of human frailty and vanity.

Eventually
I resume my composure
to wear my nonchalant smile.
My sighs then slowly fade
into tranquility,
while their echoes
will forever roam across eternity.
*

© Copyright 2008 Margherita Rueger - All Rights Reserved
Midnitesun
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
1 posted 2008-03-22 03:42 PM


Outstanding!
quote:

Their sighs of sorrow and love
now raise the layers of dust
under which they slumbered
while waiting to join my own sighs,
deep, cosmic and endless,
rolling in alternate waves
of panic and ecstasy
over the forgotten splendor
of this monument
of human frailty and vanity.


secondhanddreampoet
Member Ascendant
since 2006-11-07
Posts 6394
a 'Universalist' !
2 posted 2008-03-22 03:45 PM


VERY well done!

MUCH long-sustained applause!!

Joyce Johnson
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Rara Avis
since 2001-03-10
Posts 9912
Washington State
3 posted 2008-03-22 03:57 PM


Beautifully done.  I love the entwining of the past with the present.  Love, Joyce
Alison
Deputy Moderator 5 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Rara Avis
since 2008-01-27
Posts 9318
Lumpy oatmeal makes me crazy!
4 posted 2008-03-22 04:43 PM


Margherita,

You weave past and present into a beautiful tapestry of poetry.  What a treat you are on a lovely weekend day.  May the sun shine on you this Easter.

Alison

JamesMichael
Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336
Kapolei, Hawaii, USA
5 posted 2008-03-22 04:57 PM


One of your best...enjoyed...James
Marchmadness
Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 9271
So. El Monte, California
6 posted 2008-03-22 05:43 PM


Kacy said it best. OUTSTANDING!
                          Ida

2islander2
Member Ascendant
since 2008-03-12
Posts 6825
by the sea
7 posted 2008-03-22 06:02 PM


I've seen some mosaic floorings and your poem worth them ...
Your poem makes me feel how great and meaningful these works are and i will look at them differently by now....

   Regards

    yann

Robert E. Jordan
Member Rara Avis
since 2008-01-25
Posts 8541
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
8 posted 2008-03-22 06:13 PM


Margherita,

You were obviously inspired to write this poem.

Yes, grooms of Norman ancestry are the best.  I've been one.

Good choice.

I love this write.

Bobby

poddarku
Senior Member
since 2008-01-15
Posts 589
india
9 posted 2008-03-22 11:08 PM


layers of whispers entrapped,
eagerly surfacing ghosts
from the depth of centuries__wow! you are growing more close to universal feelings and soul, dearest

clever talks delay friendship!

Honeybunch
Member Rara Avis
since 2001-12-29
Posts 7115
South Africa
10 posted 2008-03-23 04:29 AM


Margherita - this is an absolutely stunning write!  How well you put into words what a lot of us feel but do not know.  Your words are "sitting with me".  

Love
Helen

Roniece Dawson-Bruce
Member Ascendant
since 2000-01-29
Posts 5689
Sydney, Australia
11 posted 2008-03-23 06:07 AM


W O W!!! Margharita... this is exquisite writing here... what wonderful words you penned for us... just beautiful and I'm adding it to my library to enjoy again...

love RDB

Be kind at heart....for everyone you meet has their own battle to fight.........

Margherita
Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236
Eternity
12 posted 2008-03-23 02:32 PM


Thank you my beautiful Pipfriends for the very generous and loving replies! You bless me.

Happy Easter DAy! Here in Rome it rains, everything is grey, but I try to keep the sunshine within!

Love and hugs.
Margherita

icebox
Member Elite
since 2003-05-03
Posts 4383
in the shadows
13 posted 2008-03-25 09:15 PM


Absolutely beautiful, and to me these lines are the best:

"My sighs then slowly fade
into tranquility,
while their echoes
will forever roam across eternity."


Margherita
Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236
Eternity
14 posted 2008-03-26 08:10 AM


Thank you so much for the gift of your loving reply, dear Charlie!
Love and smiles.
Margherita

Susan Caldwell
Member Rara Avis
since 2002-12-27
Posts 8348
Florida
15 posted 2008-03-26 08:52 AM


"I hear tunes of nightingales
filling my soul with visions of beauty
and conveying the aching sweetness
and the intoxicating passion
of love, of love ..."

This was wonderful and the I loved the lines above..


"too bad ignorance isn't painful"
~Unknown~

Bonnie j
Senior Member
since 2003-06-27
Posts 1588
Ohio
16 posted 2008-03-26 08:43 PM


Love the picture you have painted with your words. I can almost hear the whispers of long ago.
Also love the picture.
Hugs
BonBon

LindsayP
Member Elite
since 2007-07-28
Posts 3410
Australia, Victoria
17 posted 2008-03-26 09:45 PM



Oh Margherita you blew me away with this great post, I could never write like that,

it was so good, I really enjoyed it.
Have a happy day dear lady and take care.

Lindsay

Margherita
Member Seraphic
since 2003-02-08
Posts 22236
Eternity
18 posted 2008-03-27 10:39 AM


Dear Susan, Bonnie and Lindsay, thank you from my heart for taking the time to read and comment so lovingly.

Love and joy,
Margherita

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