pompeii

18d

In front of me a girl with bare feet,
in a beribboned dress, picks white
flowers in a field somewhere near Pompeii…

—Stewart Conn, “Springtime”
published in IN THE KIBBLE PALACE (Bloodaxe, 1987)

Pompeii was destroyed possibly #OTD, 24 Oct, 79CE

https://www.museoarcheologiconapoli.it/portfolio-item/affreschi/

#Scottish #literature #classical #Roman #archaeology #poem #poetry #Pompeii

Stewart Conn
Springtime

In front of me a girl with bare feet,
in a beribboned dress, picks white
flowers in a field somewhere near Pompeii.

Each day I look at her, head straight,
right hand outstretched as she delicately
plucks the stem. Was she there that night

the lava flowed, birds shrivelled in the sky
and lovers turned to ash, where they lay?
If so, what had she done to deserve it?

I wonder, will it ever be
Springtime again, the blood flow freely;
or has man blighted all hope of recovery?

We are on borrowed time, you and I
and have been from the outset.
All that is left, is to live lovingly.

“Flora”
da Stabiae, Villa di Arianna inv. 8834
www.museoarcheologiconapoli.it

A Roman fresco from Pompeii. Painted on a green background, a young woman, wearing a loose, flowing robe of white and yellow, walks away from the viewer. In her left arm she carries a basket of flowers; her dress slips off her right shoulder as she reaches out to pluck a shoot from a tall flowering plant beside her.

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