By Ishmael von Heidrick-Barnes
Walking in Ruins
Walking
in ruins
admiring columns
that support sky’s vaulted ceiling
Birds dart from cloudy frescos
into orchards overrun by grass
Climbing up stones
clamoring footsteps
of women and men
Listening
to ancient faces
words
mouthed from mosaics
buried under centuries of dirt
“We were like you,” they say,
“We raised children
faithfully
teased fruit trees from earth
offered prayers of wine
to heaven
We made love and war
tended to comfortable vines of lives scratched from dirt
with bloody hands
We never imagined
the city of lamps
might
dim our eyes
to the fragile reflection of ourselves
mirrored by sea
We were like you
too busy
staggering up insatiable cliffs
to see ourselves crumbling
into ruins
remembering the future of our past.”