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Further Than I Have Ever Been
Going further south than I have ever been
Beyond the luxury and death of the Roman world
Past Torre del Greco, my father's birthplace,
Castellamare, Sorrento, Salerno
Tall grass and wild flowers
In the late afternoon sun --
Paestum, the musical symmetry
Of rose tinted columns,
Past history, ancient eruptions
And modern slaughter in the soft
Underbelly of Europe.
Past Eboli
And the buffalo cheese shops,
Past the herds of water buffalo
No vast plains to roam
South, further than I have ever been,
To Calabria, legendary land
Of brigands, and proverbially hard
Headed people, emerging now
Out of centuries of isolation
Neglect, resurrected by
The magnificent warriors
Risen from the sea with ancient
Rage flashing from their marble eyes.
South, further than I have ever been,
This antipodes of burning stone,
Cracked river beds where lizards dart
And cicadas chant their dry songs
More lush, more beautiful
Than I had imagined, Calabria,
Gateway to Sicily, Gateway to Greece,
Portal to the Orient, land of the dead,
Out of whose graves rises the scent
Of rosemary, basil, sage, and thyme,
The acrid smell of blood and death
And rising the sour smell of shoes
Left in the living room by the couch
Where Calabrian/Sicilian Norma
And I tested our adolescent bodies
Above the carefully placed shoes
Of her vigilant father.
Her spirit rises on the highway
In the blinding sun,
Grows larger in the shimmering heat
Enters the open windows,
Stretches out on the back seat
And smiles silently at me in the rear view mirror.
The Briton dream of Sicilian Bellini
Sings siren songs that fill my ears to bursting
Meant to lead me from the road
Into the brown grass, the yellow stones,
The dead rivers.
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