Stone Beds
[Pompeii’s surge]

Advance: after the great eruption of Pompeii’s nearby volcano, Vesuvius, some two-thousand years ago in the heyday of the Roman Empire, what was left of the city were mostly ashes of stone from an unleashing furnace; it is hard to imagine what the people went through (none, not one person survived). I can only guess from the looks of the city today, and in its early excavations, its people were baked alive or asleep, like pottery. In many cases, beds were turned into stones. I have been to Italy twice, and Pompeii, most be the most blazing archeological sites in the world.

For those not familiar with Pompeii, (the city, for there was also a General in the Roman Army, called Pompeii, whom gave his name to the city), for those folks, let me clarify: just the name stimulates deep slurs if not down right nightmarish emotions.

Pompeii is located by the Bay of Neapolis. The time of the eruption, was A.D. 79. Pompeii, was a resort city, as you might think of Los Vegas. It was the Roman Empires richest city, with luxurious villas, and all seemed to live a most enjoyable lifestyle. This city reminds me of the Titanic, and Sodom and Gomorra. Yes, Pompeii was a most corrupt and violent city, or town-let, as some would have it.

The Poem:

Stone Beds

Skin vaporized
Bones incinerated
Brains boiled—

Then exploded!

Skulls stained from
Red cerebral matter,
Like a glass that shattered;

Teeth disintegrated.

Dim and faint was their fate.

Suffocation
Decomposed
Solidified—:

The shapes of bodies…;

Contorted positions—
Buried alive:
Like eggs packed,

In clay pottery!...

Note: 5/8/05 #642

Author/Poet Dennis Siluk, http://dennissiluk.tripod.com

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