Robert M. Simmons
from Added Entries (Poems 1991- )
The Sepia Print
The past is twice remembered by this view
of ancient ruins in sepia tones,
ravaged temples that once were whole and new
strewn like corpses collapsed upon their bones.
A golden age is recollected here,
contained in oak and hung for all to see,
during a time that held such models dear,
until it too was trashed by history.
The future also flickers in this scene,
as though it were a fortune tellers ball,
where on the fringes noisy tribes convene
for an assault to penetrate the wall,
and that for us will be the final page
as darkness hides the ruins of our age.
© 2003 by Robert M. Simmons
Sepia-toned, photographic print of Roman ruins
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Subjects: poems about, history, classical ruins, Victorian age, decline of civilization, sonnets, poetry, poems
The Sepia Print