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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
OH, LYDIA, by SONIA RUTHELE NOVAK
First Line: When nero rode along the appian way
Last Line: In balked despair, his vengeances were meant!
Subject(s): Nero, Roman Emperor (37-68 A.d.); Roman Empire
First Line: When nero rode along the appian way
Last Line: In balked despair, his vengeances were meant!
Subject(s): Nero, Roman Emperor (37-68 A.d.); Roman Empire
When Nero rode along the Appian Way,
His gaze would search, a darting arrowhead,
Beyond his foaming horses, as they fled,
To where the catacombs would know his day,
With nurtured wrath, unloosed, and free to play
In blood, to decorate with shining red
The puny, little festa of the dead --
Those mouthing idiots, his silly prey!
Oh, Lydia with silences of blue,
And skin, petunia-white, a breathing scent;
With hair like glinting shadows, grapevines through,
In which the amber threads of sun are blent --
He wreaked his anger for the lust of you!
In balked despair, his vengeances were meant!
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