Italy

Carpe Diem #970 Italy

Today on our tour through Europe we visit and learn of Italy.  Suddenly, as I read the inspiration post, the living room morphs to a classroom, Latin I & II.  The Coliseum, the Appian Way, the Roman Senate and all that was part of that long ago culture.  The study of the language from which all Romance languages derived.

"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears."  To which the 'Mad Magazine' guys tried to pretend they were cutting off their ears.  It was high school hijinks.  We freshman, Latin I students, were the plebes.  There were consuls and patricians.  And the constant awareness of gender as that determined which word was to be used.  And conjugations, endless conjuctions.... amo, amas, amat, amā́mus, amā́tis, amant.

I loved it, really, really loved it.  It was the beginning of a love affair with world.  A world beyond the cotton farm and the Collin county line.


I still want to see the pines lining the Appian Way.  The fountains in Rome.  That perfect statue of David and the not so perfect rejects.  I want to drink wine in Tuscany and float the canals of Venice.  I want to visit Pompeii and Herculaneum, to stand in the shadow of Vesuvius.  Because I still have a major crush on Italy ..... and all things Europe.



democratic roots
sprouting from volcanic ash
vineyards of hope

© petra domina

Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on 

CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

Comments

  1. humbirdJune 5, 2016 at 10:29 PM

    Nostalgic haibun, love your haiku...

    ReplyDelete
  2. lynn__June 6, 2016 at 6:06 AM

    You pulled me in, to Latin class and to Italy, with your haibun...enjoyed this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JaniceJune 6, 2016 at 2:54 PM

      Always glad to give pleasure with my reading.

      Delete
  3. Carol CampbellJune 6, 2016 at 10:02 AM

    So nice!

    ReplyDelete
  4. TournesolDansUnJardinJune 6, 2016 at 10:38 AM

    Aw, Janice!! such a beautiful haibun that brought be back to my high school days with four years of Latin...the last two with dear Sister Dufferin who sang the poetry in our Latin Poetry class making me want to master my grammar so I could appreciate the verses and the prose so much more. Your haiku is stunning, Janice...such a treat to visit you today!

    ReplyDelete
  5. JaniceJune 6, 2016 at 2:55 PM

    Thank you, my friend for your kind words.

    ReplyDelete
  6. ChèvrefeuilleJune 26, 2016 at 9:54 PM

    Wow Janice what a wonderful story ... you have fallen in love with Europe ... awesome

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JaniceJuly 3, 2016 at 8:35 PM

      Yes, I have and my husband is not jealous at all!

      Delete

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