FRANCA COLOZZO

 

The Unripe Altar

 

Unripe Altar, borne on winds of green and gold,

With bitter breath of citrus fills the air

On such a day of satisfied bright light.

The Cicero’s ruins flame in sun,

Like linens spread upon the ocean’s brim,

Contending still in grace with sunlit hills.

 

O distant Ara, poised on mountain’s spur

Amid the vines, I muse what once thou wert

Along the ancient Appian way,

In memory of Tulliola fair,

Beloved child whom cruel untimely death

From thee, O Cicero, did wrest away,

Whilst adverse Fate disputed o’er her dust,

When on the pyre her tender limbs were laid

By hands ancestral, solemn in their rite.

 

And thou as well, Cicero, rested there,

A fleeing victim of fierce Antony.

Of that proud Ara few the fragments stand,

By rude and thoughtless hands profaned and scarred;

Yet memory clings where stone has turned to dust.

 

Caposele in Italy laments thy destiny

In mute fair beauty of her ancient homes

And gardens bowed beneath the weight of time.

The ample plain restrains man’s frantic course,

Recalling former glory’s golden breath

And all the Cicero’s sorrowing tale.

©Franca Colozzo

 

Amantes Amentes

(Latin: Mad Lovers)

 

Rustle of leaves

upon the naked earth,

beneath us, lovers,

absorbed in contemplation

of the silent stars

in the evening breeze.

 

Your body, like stone

sculpted by the wind,

with eyes ablaze,

emulating Prometheus

as he steals fire from the gods.

 

The apple tree’s roots,

entwined like serpents,

drinking sap

from the womb of Mother Earth.

 

Naked bodies, wrapped

in the weightless air,

amid drops of dew

quenching the thirsty clods.

 

Meanwhile we, lovers,

are intent on sucking

from the chalice of time

its eternal nectar.

©Franca Colozzo

 

FRANCA COLOZZO

 

Dr. Arch. FRANCA COLOZZO (ITALY): Member of  UIA - UNION OF INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTS | former Teacher of Drawing and History of Art  also abroad, in Istanbul (TURKEY), on behalf of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (M.A.E.) | Poet | Artist | Writer | multilingual author| recipient of n°4 honorary  PhD  | highly internationally awarded | freelancer | UN SDGs & UN DESA Blogger | former Member  of UN ECOSOC  (CSW67) | GGAF (USA), Italian Chapter | WEF - Lifelong Honorary Member | Ambassador of Peace on behalf of several NGOs from Pakistan (former CEO of IHC- INTERNATIONAL HARMONY COUNCIL,  a sister of INSPAD (Islamabad - PAKISTAN);  from  INDIA (MERLE REBIRTH); Italy Chapter  on behalf of WIP – WORLD INSTITUTE for PEACE (NIGERIA), etc. |  Executive Director  for Sustainability & Climate Change and  contact person  for the Transparency Register of the European Commission and Parliament,  on behalf of GPLT - GLOBAL PEACE LET’S TALK (London, UK),  founded and chaired by Dr. Nikki De Pina  | Member of the INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY of  ETHICS, founded and presided over by Dr. Jernail S Anaand  (INDIA) | CEO/Executive Director of RRM3 - RINASCIMENTO RENAISSANCE - Millennium III, founded and presided over by Prof. George Onsy (Cairo, EGYPT) | Founder of many groups on social media|