Have my heart melt to ash
to be lost in the ember ether;
gone away to an acropolis
atop the volcano wayward;
that city upon the molten crown
of the fiercest mountain
its residents, with flesh of igneous
live their lives so callously
and cruelly to Pompeii below!
They rain clay to cast poor souls below,
the medusas of their age enough,
they who wouldn\'t learn to love.
And the sepulcher of stones
of rocks made from men\'s bones
so sad to see it grow!
By those of the acropolis.
Yet sadder still, those men did pray
worshipped them like seraphs;
they loved the mountain wondrously,
made artwork of its zenith.
But eventually, they saw the folly
and left their valley fully;
made up all of their caravans
and convoys went to foreign lands.
The acropolis, now all alone,
would continue bleeding out its soul
the heaven to wreck hell below
till all the world made evenly;
and the summit should lose its embers
its lack of exhaust to vanish vapors
should quiet its ill temper,
and make that mountain tame.
And maybe then, with hope and water
the lichens smite the soil sour
give it life, with grass and clover
and once again, make the earth a mother.
Then the gorgons might be gardeners;
and the acropolis made a city proper;
and the meteors up skyward
the only foul to fall.
And Pompeii, who had ventured-
should find themselves their home;
and return, to that place- unrecognized then from before
like the homecoming of Homer.
Would they love the forest born?
While mausoleums of dead adorn
the foundations underneath them?
Could they forgive a sin, so saintly?
Accept a peace, and not irately?
Love again what was once brash,
What once had melted hearts to ash?
Yes, they could! Though history is hatred,
but also matrimony and brethren
and families and whole continents
engulfing our old Earth.
And the birch trees will breathe,
and the wind will let to suther
just as they always have, and seem to do yet still.
You cannot forget the lovely lava,
what will devour with hot teeth
that sink and seethe in gluttonous greed
to consume what is heartfelt;
But you can forgive it, when you go
and return to find it gone.
In its stead, alive a new rapture
that glistens instead of glows
that shines instead of burns
will love you more than you know,
will not hurt; will not lash;
no more hearts will melt to ash.