The Colosseum

Gladiators fought there,
Bleeding through the cheers,
While tourists of today (like me!)
Imagine all those years.

The structure still stands proudly,
Well, parts of it, at least,
As cameras click where once were bouts
Of human versus beast.

We step on stones first placed there
In the ancient days of Rome,
Where Jewish slaves took eight long years 
To build it, far from home.

We marvel at this masterpiece,
At all that's still intact,
Envisioning the action
From the hints we can extract.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2019

Poem

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Rigoler Avatar
March 4, 2019 at 8:21 PM
Love especially the last stanza of this poem, Ilene. If you go to Italy again, you might want to see Pompeii and its excavations. I translated two letters of Pliny the Younger's eye witness accounts of Mt. Vesuvius (79 CE). His account of the horrors and devastation are not easily forgotten. / M
Allison Avatar
February 28, 2019 at 4:55 PM
Such an amazing sight to see Ilene and the tour guides bring these relics to life as you have done with your wonderful words:-) hugs Jan xx
Bauer Avatar
March 3, 2019 at 5:48 PM
thanks, jan! yes, the tour guides were filled with so many interesting details i never would have known - they really added to the experience...
Krutsinger Avatar
February 28, 2019 at 3:13 PM
It sounds like you are enjoying some wonderful Roman ruins, in an exotic land on the other side of the hemisphere!
Bauer Avatar
March 3, 2019 at 5:46 PM
yes, caren, i just got back from a trip to italy and i especially enjoyed all the ruins in rome. it's amazing to walk in places with so much history attached to them...
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