​Primavera di Stabiae, by Stephen Cline

Primavera di Stabiae (Italy) c. 79

​Primavera di Stabiae

Her face is turned as she walks away
she cannot feel my gaze
fingers poised to pluck the blooms
and add them to her pale bouquet 

I see her cheek in quarter view
her golden gown down shoulder falls
while the sun turns hair to brass
bare feet tread tender grass

she's walked 2000 years            
on ancient painted wall 
never once to see us pause
generations fleeting past

dwelling in immortal green
like a myth in days of old
but there's a price for aquamarine 
to turn her back on human kind

though my heart inclines toward love
she will not meet my eye
Turned to face an endless spring
she has made her fateful choice

she's walked 2000 years            
on ancient painted wall 
never once to see us pause
generations fleeting past

Stephen Cline

A musical version is available on all streaming sites:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/primavera/1437071788?i=1437071791https://youtu.be/K4npVvb3ryA?si=-YsSNp9cqANVJsnj

Stephen Cline earned his master’s in literature from CSUDH, is a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, and received an NEH Fellowship to study Arthurian Literature of the Middle Ages. A retired English professor, he lives in Hawaii with his poet wife, Nancee. He has had numerous short stories, essays, and cartoons published in the US and Britain in magazines and anthologies. His three novels: The Last Book, Echoes Over Water and The Last Orange Grove are available from Amazon.com. Stephen is also a performing and recording musician whose work is available on all streaming platforms.