How does it feel
to be Rome falling?
— This is something
we can now know

Might have the same urgency
as how we cast our hopes
on what we pray will float
free of the massive
crumbling sham
that called itself
our great society

It’s strange how short a time we’ve known,
It’s strange how obvious it seems —
The utter emptiness of
all we’re told to strive for,
The spirit-hunger in our dreams

Rome falls
and there is much it takes with it
in the roaring vacuum it sucks down,
But if we hold each other
and hold what’s true
we will emerge
ready to begin again,
tender, new.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 7, 2014