4 o’clock in the morning
and the rains don’t stop
water keeps pouring
from the sky
helps keep away the drought
other parts
see no rain at all
just hot winds that keep
fires
keep fires
keep fires
burning
monsoons in Asia
cyclones typhoons
earthquake in Near East Far East
tsunamis too tornado hurricane
volcanoes fuming
I shouted this out
in madness and hurt
found my rage on Victory Bridge
on Victory Bridge over Verona’s Adige
out of the Alps ice and snow
the S of its curve marking passage as I shouted
one
with winds’ word
stood next to my father sage of World War
and together we missed my mother
Dead from violent cancer that ate away at her
vernal wind swept
over us
World War Two
built this victory for us
earth plates shift sink and rise
still rain keeps coming down
pure sun clean sky
then heat suffocates and engulfs all the people
about us
evening breeze just yesterday so sweet
not cold not hot
I thought I saw dark clouds approaching from my
rearview mirror
always present somehow passing
from before to the future beginning
I cross Victory Bridge
and Adige in Verona again
on banks of running river
place of Roman amphitheater
feudal star-crossed love and
monument to my future place where my parents rest
water rushes from our sky
they are now ash