I traipse through
cobblestones
walkway of this
Adriatic Queen

Golden chariot
-a gasconade
treads blue waters
in brilliant wash

while somewhere
on a gondola
little Lauren King
kisses Daniel
in darkness
under Ponte
dei Sospiri
as stripes
red and white
go rushing by
patrolling
for pickpockets

(Julius is safe)


maybe love
is not won
or bargained
but stolen

these thoughts
reflected
on the spectacle
of an accolade dome
-Chiesa d'Oro
sits a giant
pulpit guardian
sleeping over
the remains
of her master.
His horses
unmanned
lay waiting
at the steps.


and just perhaps
Andrew Chugg is right
true purgatory

Oh Alexander!
Is it you
entombed
in echoes of
countless pilgrims
who genuflect
at your feet

in vain

they call you

Marco.

Conqueror interred
as a saint
in all the spoils
of crusades
left by henchmen
merchants and
myrmidon alike.

Aristotle lies silent
his pupil mislaid
the bell tolls
from St. Mark's
Campanile.

famous scriptures
succumbed to ash
-scrolls of Alexandria
and the wind
strewed them
to the sea
returning
here to sink
this lavish citadel
inch by inch.

---------------------------------------------------------

I wrote this a while ago. A friend of mine here on editred encouraged me to post it… I was inspired by an old movie (A Little Romance) and somewhere while I was writing it I thought of the controversy surrounding Alexander the Great’s missing tomb. Strange but the well beloved Venice seems mostly a mosaic of looted treasures including St. Mark’s horses. Booty carried by Crusaders from the Byzantine Empire. I guess love can be stolen.

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