Understanding Why

I.
I came
to Rome

to
see.

For myself.

II.
Andréa Bocelli
sings a song

with eyes closed
late at night.

We gathered
to hear the words I could not understand.

Non ho capito.

III.
Latin class
with Wingate at the blackboard,
chalk dust on one side, Yoda on the other.

Nosce te ipsum.

Something about Delphi
and a lesson I
must learn.

IV.
Romans were disgusting.
They vomited
mid-meal out of gluttony,
buried ex-virgins alive,
fed their slaves
to eels
for entertainment.
But the model of the city,

11 aqueducts,
Circus Maximus,
Tepidarium and fridgidarium.

Beautiful.
Io
capisco.

V.
The Story of Architecture said
Bernini’s baladacchino is
95 feet tall, even though it looks

so small
in the picture,
resting under the dome
of heaven.

VI.
Tried to come once before.

I
was

not

ready.

Non ho capito.

VII.
Italian class last summer,
hot words
on a blackboard.

“Ma che caldo oggi!
Ordiniamo una cocacola, va bene?”

“Capite?”

VIII.
Romans poured concrete that could set underwater. They invented the arch, and
gridded their towns. The western world can

not escape
their influence,
nor can I.

IX.
Stepped off a train and
breathed in air that
smelled familiar like
people I had known
all my life.

“Dov’e vai?”

Ho capito.

X.
All loves lead to
this
eternal city

vedo
for myself.