By DECLINE AND FALL
Once, there were no panhandlers in La
Serenissima. Now there are four beggars –
men from Dalmatia, the old colonies,
and a Roma woman with no past.
Near the Rialto, two alternate
on the same pitch: heads sunk, hands out, their stories
in English on cardboard. The third plays
an accordion near the Accademia,
his history on plywood at his feet.
Only the woman, dark-eyed, distressed, who sits
anonymous, huddled, swaddled against the
long wall of the Ospedale Civile,
looks charity the tourist in the eye. She
takes the last vaporetto for Torcello
– and disembarks somewhere in the dark lagoon:
but returns always as if she were any
other traveller on the chopped and dancing
water, under the pellucid sky, in the
serenity of the light.
AccademiaaccordionanonymousbeggarscharitycoloniesDalmatiadancingDecline And FallEnglishhuddledLa SerenissmalagoonOspedale Civilepanhandlerspellucidromaswaddledthe Rialtothe serenity of the lightTorcellotouristtravellervaporetto
Ian Craine
December 15, 2012The great Dalmatian cities are perhaps more than mere Venetian colonies.
Spalato, where Diocletian built his mighty palace, is older than Venice which owes its existence to Romans fleeing the Germanic invaders.
Ragusa would by the 16th Century become an entrepot to rival Venice itself, and even today under its Slavic name Dubrovnik remains one of Europe’s great cities.
David Selzer
December 17, 2012All true, Ian, but Venetians would see Dalmatia et al as ‘the old colonies’. ‘Once, there were no panhandlers…’
Adrian Ackroyd
December 17, 2012Liked ‘DECLINE AND FALL’ as a reflection on modern day Venice contrasted with the reflections of and into the past pointed to by the other 4 poems.