Rome

Jak Kirwin

Rome

My soul is tired;

I have slept through glory days 

And awoken in a broken age

Gravel, soot, stone as blue as morning

Are our idols 

Tired tyrants cased in clay 

 

My mind is a colosseum in decay

Where old men dressed in tethers

Do not fight, they just debate 

Good, evil, feelings temporal and eternal,

As they have 

A thousand long and lonely years 

 

My body is a forest cleared

Of any life that men may cull

Where naught grows but weary thought

Among black earth bone-sticks, ribs, and skull

Here I am

Paradise and despair — null.

Jak is a Brisbane based writer and poet with an interest in introspective work using nature as a conduit. His poetry has appeared in Glass and Scratch That. His prose has appeared in The Equal Standard. He can be found on Instagram at Jakkirwin.