Godless

Where now are our glorious, lauded gods?

Jupiter, in lightingbolt robes woven from furious storms, where?

Flames stream from above like Olympian rain.

Lady Juno, clothed in sumptuous purple, wreathed in scent

of plums, weighed down with bounty and elegance, where?

Snowflakes of ash are lining our windowsills.

Where now are our statues adorned with devotion?

Minerva, wise goddess, your serene, marble likeness

is melting in embers at the heart of Pompeii.

Twins of sun and moon, Diana, Apollo, you look

down from your chariots with disdain,

as the melted rock from Vulcan's forge drowns us.

Where now, are the deities we so devoutly worshipped?

I know only of one,who has deigned to show himself,

Pluto, his stygian hand wrapped softly around my throat.