The Colosseum from an off the beaten path vantage point in Rome, where we all want to feel beauty and find love. Rather than just street views up close, some of the ruins can be viewed from greenery, captured like a stolen moment between lovers. The sun breaking through the “windows” of the colosseum still inspires excitement in me after 20 years in Rome. See how small we are in this world, and how the ancients wanted to remind us of that? The view of more centuries of history mashed together from atop the crowds, with the ancient symbol of fecundity a pomegranate in bronze. Arches built for faded triumphs, still gazed upon thousands of years later. The verdant hills of the Palentine whisper of a pastoral Rome found normally on the winding road of the interminable Appian Way. Angels were found in Classical Antiquity, and have guided me along my own travels in the Eternal City. The marble of Roma seems the only thing built to last some days.

A Roman bride as bright as a white dove sent as some augur of hope amidst the ruins. Love can not wait for time to take over and wreak havoc. A Renaissance fountain and umbrella pines tucked away quietly from the crowds. Water and moss glint in the sunlight and shadow. The present is pulled between the past ashes and the future hopes. When in Rome embrace love, life, and passion in the moment… bathe in warm sunshine before the sun crawls west and the moon rises in the east again, except for two days of the year.

The moment is now, the touch is palpable, the hum of machinery is drowned out by the flight and song of sparrows, the cypress and umbrella pines wave in the breeze, and the scent of wine and food beckons like a kiss from nearby. Laugh in the face of death while you still can, make love in the dying of the light to make your embers burn deeper, richer, more wildly. The gods have left their dice behind, we only have to roll them. Remember what has been, recognize who you are, breathe it all in, and then move with the traffic to the next thing. The vestiges must be broken from something solid and beautiful before we are all dust.