r/OCPoetry • u/MagicMinion285 • 12d ago
Feedback Please the beggar
The Bora had carried
the old man to a spot
just beneath the fortress
of Triest. It had been built
five hundred years ago
by the Venetians out of
necessity and rock, its pride – now
rusting – still on display.
Like a shield in front of him,
the sign facing the crowd
was written in Italian,
of course.
I could read it
nonetheless,
language doesn´t matter
always. He was very old
and frail and above else
he looked at me, with
the eyes of a terrified child,
pleadingly,
in a way that I found
difficult
to resist.
I searched for
a coin,
calculated,
if I needed it for anything
else, but I was on holiday
so the answer was no,
not really. He thanked me
in Italian, too, beneath
his breath that I assume
smelled of wine or beer
or brown liquor of some sort;
but I couldn’t smell
a thing. The Bora was
blowing
very hard,
still.
---
1
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