A summer afternoon by Trajan’s column

Imprints of faces, heroes and victorious wars eternalized,
spiraled the alabaster column tell the glory
of an emperor long gone, his name divinized.
His 3D story made glorious by shadows
of the setting sun, worn by time and elements,

His bronze likeness used to stand atop this pedestal
and removed to give way to the likeness
of the man who holds the keys of heaven.
Gorgeous prelude to darkness casts bright interludes of the past.
Splendors of lost enterprise dissolved into graven history.

Theirs the sensuous invitation to live
and carve names that last; think of the wars to be fought,
faith to be professed and martyrdom.
There are no easy ways for names to be uttered like gods;
There are no easy ways for names to be revered by the living.