I was once a busy road
With people, carts and many a toad
Travelling over me
A father scolded his son
And the mother said "let him be"
I fell in love with the sun
I still remember the dew on the leaves shining
And birds chirping and dancing
When it was raining
Then one day
When everything was peaceful and gay
Suddenly there came
The screaming of a dame
The hobbling of the lame
I knew it was mount Vesuvius
But then shouted senator Octavius
"ni desperandum!"
"and find me more ***!"
He was drunk when the lava swallowed him
He died, screaming and cursing his whim
Because I am made of lime
I never died
I cried
I tried
A thousand years later
A shepherd saw me
While tending to his sheep's litter
Many people have tried to find me
But I am hidden
Forever.
This poem is set in the time of the eruption of Mt Vesuvius. The word phrase "ni desperandum" means "never despair"