Pompeii
Nothing speaks of death
like Pompeii’s volcanic blast
with no place to hide
a hellish blight of
pyroclastic flow moved fast
enveloping all
a hot scorching end
vaporizing rich and poor
inhaling fire
Plaster filled the voids
of hollow spaces buried
revealing people
this, their legacy
I first saw in my childhood
a life long haunting
Seeing these figures
showing what it is to die
in darkness, alone
And without trying
their consciousness became ours
aware of death coming
Forever caught in
their most intimate moment
taking their last breath
we are who we are
Dancing on a fireball
living on the edge
12 thoughts on "Pompeii"
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I’ve been haunted by those images and you express them well. At that same time, I’ve come to appreciate we know more about their lives because they were etched in time by fire.
I think I saw the pictures in Life Magazine as a kid.
So true about learning of their lives—it is so incredible that the cause of their deaths allowed us to know about their lives. It is hard not to imagine them alive…Thank you for reading and your comments.
It really works to go through facts and impressions of Pompeii with the haiku lined up. It stretches the time out to help the reader consider important things that happen. Your insights are spot on. Beautiful poem!
Thank you for your comments! and I appreciate what you said. I considered adding more information, but once I turned the corner into linking with consciousness, I preferred ending on that path.
I’ve been recently thinking about the people that died when Mt. Vesuvius erupted. Not sure what I saw of it as a child, but I remember being curious and horrified and kind of obsessed with it as a young child. I remember getting books out of the library to read about it.
Your poem is very well done.
Thank you so much for commenting and sharing–and it seems so true that Pompeii just has a way of lingering in my minds, especially when we see those plaster images as a child..
What a beautiful haiku sequence – You capture that moment in time and in our lives so well. Love the word “pyroclastic”
thank you so much for commenting on the choice of haiku and your feeling about the poem. Much appreciated!
Well done! You’ve painted the picture so well, and to do it in a haiku sequence? Applause!
I wrote a poem some years from the POV of Mt. Vesuvius, how she warned the people of Pompeii with preliminary rumbles and quakes, yet they went about their lives, ignoring.
There is some comfort in seeing some of the victims who didn’t die alone, a man and woman holding each other, and woman and child, but these are rare. Such a haunting place, like Gettysburg and Culloden, but for Pompeii, it was nature attacking.
Thank you for your comments and sharing! I love the voice you took from the POV of Mt. Vesuvius for your poem you mention–and that the warnings were ignored–that sounds amazing! and yes–it is such a haunting place that captures our imagination it seems! thanks again–!
Ann, as a 27 year old, i visited Pompeii with my father. just walking at the site screams seemed to seep into my sandals. i actually never forgot being there and yes, silent screams do reverberate. great poem Ann, makes me stop and rewind the movie . . .
Darlene–I did not know you had been there– that is so impressive and I can only imagine — knowing what a sensitive person you are–that it would have had a long lasting intense impact on you. Thanks so much for sharing and commenting!