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larryhammerAugusta Raurica
White rattles on curled leaves. Behind the hedges
worn pediments and cold gravestones display
abbreviated Latin, losing edges
and meaning under snow. Here, one last thing?
We stop to touch and look at rocks that told
their texts, though I just read what surfaces say,
not messages: the hand holds only cold,
the eye sees weather echo weathering.
I stamp my feet, breathe clouds, and puzzle while
her camera captures the current state of stone.
Across the road, a temple falls to gray.
Our looks agree: we go--the storm will stay.
With one last picture of a freezing tile,
we leave in ruins what the snow has sown.
Very rough, especially in the middle, but with this draft I was more trying to get it down.
Augusta Raurica was a Roman city on the Rhine, in what's now the towns of Augst and Kaiseraugst about 15km east of Basel. There's a museum and several outdoor sites, which we visited out last day in Switzerland. Next to the museum is a "lapidarium" we didn't see until we were heading back to the train station, displaying finds of carved stone plus a mosaic in excellent condition. The poem lies, btw: the inscriptions were sheltered from the snow -- the weather/weathering thought came from looking at the half-restored theater across the street.
---L.
White rattles on curled leaves. Behind the hedges
worn pediments and cold gravestones display
abbreviated Latin, losing edges
and meaning under snow. Here, one last thing?
We stop to touch and look at rocks that told
their texts, though I just read what surfaces say,
not messages: the hand holds only cold,
the eye sees weather echo weathering.
I stamp my feet, breathe clouds, and puzzle while
her camera captures the current state of stone.
Across the road, a temple falls to gray.
Our looks agree: we go--the storm will stay.
With one last picture of a freezing tile,
we leave in ruins what the snow has sown.
Very rough, especially in the middle, but with this draft I was more trying to get it down.
Augusta Raurica was a Roman city on the Rhine, in what's now the towns of Augst and Kaiseraugst about 15km east of Basel. There's a museum and several outdoor sites, which we visited out last day in Switzerland. Next to the museum is a "lapidarium" we didn't see until we were heading back to the train station, displaying finds of carved stone plus a mosaic in excellent condition. The poem lies, btw: the inscriptions were sheltered from the snow -- the weather/weathering thought came from looking at the half-restored theater across the street.
---L.