Our Roman Empire

from Out With Lanterns

At the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco,
I wondered aloud why a new shrine to fine art
hasn’t been built in decades. My husband said 
something about computers, and I pictured 
an e-waste mound for masked tourists, year 2126.

Did Rome know it was falling? Did Romulus Augustus 
host an Ultimate Fighting Championship on his South Lawn? 
Did he pave over the imperial palace’s rose garden?  
Did he demolish his own east wing?

Rome crumbled slowly then collapsed quietly, 
not with a war or an apocalyptic event, 
but a slow decline in the quality of life. 
In traffic on the way home, I quietly calculated 
the cost of fuel to get from here to there. 

Photo by Erick Chévez on Unsplash