Pilgrims of the Via Appia
The air of Mile Six
of the Via Appia Antica
is morning cool and the sky
open to a bright sun
bordering fields
replete with baled rolls of straw
in obvious agricultural pursuits
narrow views of gated villas
down tree lined drives
all within the eye’s glint of
ten thousand Roman roofs.
The day’s labor
is walking into Rome
faux pilgrims making
our way along the ancient road
pursing Latin words
in their native lands.
The pavement is rolling
and broken with stretches of
Roman Road effective speed bumps in
indeterminate staccato distances separating
one from the next.
Tiny cars
diminutive UPS trucks
no hesitation drivers
take this route.
Local traffic I’m sure!
Spring cracking boneshakers
make their way with the
faint caution bred into the Roman soul
become jets hitting the cobblestone and asphalt.
Via Appia Antica is
an avenue of the dead
as Roman law required
burial outside the city walls.
It must have been majestic
with marble tombs, towering arches
flowing praise of the Roman dead
carved in stone for eternal glory
raising a canyon of the honored
reaching miles into the ancient
country side, and returning
guiding the eyes into the city
ending at the oldest city walls.
As we walk inwards
the tombs sink into the earth
picked of white marble as maggots
by feasting birds exposing
thin red Roman brick as
if their skeletal remains
often just suggesting
the final edifice of
those once celebrated
those of wealth and status
those resting Roman souls
along the Via Appia Antica.
Ave Maria, Florida
June 20, 2016
Roma Series
@2016 Pilgrims of the Via Appia — Joseph Yarbrough
Reproduction prohibited without written permission
of the Via Appia Antica
is morning cool and the sky
open to a bright sun
bordering fields
replete with baled rolls of straw
in obvious agricultural pursuits
narrow views of gated villas
down tree lined drives
all within the eye’s glint of
ten thousand Roman roofs.
The day’s labor
is walking into Rome
faux pilgrims making
our way along the ancient road
pursing Latin words
in their native lands.
The pavement is rolling
and broken with stretches of
Roman Road effective speed bumps in
indeterminate staccato distances separating
one from the next.
Tiny cars
diminutive UPS trucks
no hesitation drivers
take this route.
Local traffic I’m sure!
Spring cracking boneshakers
make their way with the
faint caution bred into the Roman soul
become jets hitting the cobblestone and asphalt.
Via Appia Antica is
an avenue of the dead
as Roman law required
burial outside the city walls.
It must have been majestic
with marble tombs, towering arches
flowing praise of the Roman dead
carved in stone for eternal glory
raising a canyon of the honored
reaching miles into the ancient
country side, and returning
guiding the eyes into the city
ending at the oldest city walls.
As we walk inwards
the tombs sink into the earth
picked of white marble as maggots
by feasting birds exposing
thin red Roman brick as
if their skeletal remains
often just suggesting
the final edifice of
those once celebrated
those of wealth and status
those resting Roman souls
along the Via Appia Antica.
Ave Maria, Florida
June 20, 2016
Roma Series
@2016 Pilgrims of the Via Appia — Joseph Yarbrough
Reproduction prohibited without written permission