Walking Through Frozen Pompeii
Vesuvius spat its cloud of hot ash.
Winds of flame froze Pompeii in its place.
We've studied their culture and assume to have gained
some knowledge from statues of human remains.
But walking the ruins cannot open our eyes
to that moment in time when Pompeii died.
To have watched across the Mediterranean Sea,
other city states must have attempted to flea.
Did their demigods open their angry wide mouths
and spew wrath of the ages for hundreds of miles?
From the ancestors of the ones who escaped
may we ask if the hidden scrolls of ancients are safe?
We'd be honored to set at your councils and hear
the long forgot memories read aloud in your voice.
Maybe we'd find new respect for your dead.