4381. ANIMALS

ANIMALS

I am looking at the Roman Coliseum,

those bas reliefs of animals and men  -

two soldiers with crossed swords, one's

arm apparently broken off or crumbled

long ago, and a lion, somehow here with

two heads. I flew in two days back on an

Alitalia flight, numbered 5703; not a year,

though looking like one. After a landing and

a settling in, I've walked here now, a'shudder

like them. I too am an animal; something set

loose from my own zoo of thought and extension.

Here, watch me grovel, watch me stare. My train

of thought is long without you. That makes me sad.

-

In the blistering sun now, I am looking up to a

to a cavernous blue sky  -  though through,

somehow, an inner eye. It's all the same  - 

I am calm and I am reserved.

-

I find I travel best when I stay in place.

Those marked men, carved here, in a

concrete of putter and form I do not

know of, they are candles in place for

others to visit. I've got to be honest,

all I see now are scum-sucking tourists

with cameras and phones. I seek solace and

being alone. (For this I come to Rome?)...