Diminished

The idea. the hope is that you can imagine what was,
Pompei before Vesuvious. Before fire and brimstone
covered the sparking city in white ash.
left lovers and strangers as statues for the gawkers,
left columns broken, little left standing, just enough
it seems, that a man with a good history book
and imagination can picture what was.

You are not that man. Your own life
has been left in ruins enough to know
what matters is what is left, not what was,
and even if it is diminished,
it is still beautiful.

About this poem

A poem about Pompei. About aging. About surviving trauma. Poetry is never about one thing.

The photograph was taken in Pompei.

Tom