Thursday 22 June 2017

VERONA'S 1882 FLOODS: A NEW POEM...

Verona Floods, 1882

A simple marker
Told the year and the date,
Insignificant really, easily missed
And weathered amongst a myriad
Terracotta bricks above the River Adige;
A grim pointer inside the solemn church
Of Santa Maria in Organo though
Also indicated where the tumultuous inundation reached
 On the day when displaced citizens turned to God for pity,
For Verona’s disastrous fate became darker,
As heavy rain continuously pelted
And snow from the Alps unerringly melted
To flood and engulf the ancient city…
And the smudged year on the first sign was 1882
But enthralled and connected I clearly remember
That the day and month revealed my birthday:
The 17th of September…

Pete Ray
June 2017

Not only were the flood markers simple and harrowing to see, the fact that the date was 17th September 1882 obviously attracted my attention but strangely, 1882 is 68 years before 1950, my birth year and 68 is a multiple of 17…









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