Day 619 – Roman Trilogy (Symons)

Day 619 of the daily poems.  Our poet Anne Symons says “I tried writing a poem in words after hearing Respighi’s symphonic poems.”  And here are her inspired words …

Roman Trilogy: after Respighi Symphonic Poems

I
The Trevi fountain at noon

join the procession of water     pulled by a cascade of notes
swirl and tumble    caught by brass and the shock of cymbals

fix your fingers in the mane of a sea horse    ride 
with Triton and his trumpet      to the ocean’s edge

dive through bubbles of woodwind      surface to the shimmer of harp 
drift closer    calm comes with the clarity of bells   

II
Circus Games

stones reflect memory      four hundred years of death      heralded
by flugel horn      snare drums      and shivering tambourie

growling brass brings in the beasts      martyrs wait       to sing 
with angels in ascending strings      hell holds heaven in conversation  
   
punctuated by a bass trombone      breath spills on sand      streaming 
chords      then silence      

III
Nocturne: Pines of the Janiculum

moon rises      carried by the clarinet      shaping the silhouette 
of two-faced Janus against a darkening sky      violins fly to roost 

in his branches      the god of doors opens to the night
creatures scuttle through bassoons and hunt among the tubas 

waiting for the flute to silver-light their path      a dreaming oboe 
brings the breeze      and then the nightingale

Anne Symons
This poem was first published in Poetry Salzburg Review number 40, 2023