Trial by fire
Life is an elaborate monument,
made of flesh, atoms, stone,
bones covered by so many hexes
blood and bad intent mean so many lilies
say handsome men die in penury.
A child from who knows where
twenty-five years old pretending to be 12 years.
To enter your island in the foggy sea.
Her father derived from ancient Macedonians;
forced to covert in the C15
her mother was a matriarch
who became a student of Aristotle in philosophy,
travelled to Florence to learn the art of rhetoric
who suffered the same fate as Girolamo Savonarola.
People sought sanctuary in the churches of the Dominicans,
studied letters, wrote history, speak to us, now.
Maybe history will stay around?
But the most honest, most vulnerable were ripped apart for blasphemy,
Even those whose forms were like an Apollonian apparition were trialled by fire.
John Marks
Wed 20th Jul 2022 16:04
Dear Tom. You are too generous. Today is my birthday, and one of my daughters has bought me a ticket for a GAI concert in Manchester this October. I am so much looking forward to it. Your poetry has a lyrical intensity that I seek to emulate. Not always successfully. Thanks again Tom. John