Rome has set on the sun,
Spreads the rays of its streets
And the warmth of its torches.
Caesar commands nightfall come,
To make florid incense and wine
And talk as one full of the moon.

Great-great-grand does sound old
but he was younger than you

fifteen years, the toughest
boy in the street

and I used to be the prettiest
the happiest too: a girl

born on my birthday
We were fine

with the money from Dutch John
the sweet boarder, my lover

when tough Louis left leaving
only his name for our little

Francis, your great-grand
dead as well

when your time began

You rise,
in delicate, undeniable beauty
come once,
you never return quite the same
Today like the coloring of a bruise
that was the pain of night
A symbol that all trauma fades
into strength and story

I'm afraid I'm broken
but in the same way that shattered glass
catches the light