Nero Tells All - Lisa Shulman

[Larry Robinson]

Nero Tells All

 

I smelled the smoke first—

wood fire wafting on the wind

 

then the sky darkened

like the angry face of Jove

 

and bright spears of flame

shot to the heavens.

 

Why look to me?

It was not I

who sparked the blaze.

 

Blame those others

with their foreign ways,

and the fools who built

their hovels out of wood.

 

When the refugees

from the city drew near

 

with their shrieks and moans,

their stink of charred flesh

 

I barred the door

and taking the fiddle from the table

 

as was my habit

began to play.

 

 

	- Lisa Shulman