Rasennae

 

Decoration of Etruscan Tomb in Tarquinia

 
Etruscan gold primitive bones

raised up iron-age shoulders

lords of the sea tall as Greeks

proto west Europeans

whose women held privilege

a civilized city-state culture

of warrior merchants

in league of its talents for trade

master architects winemakers

metalwork artisans blessed

by exquisite refined ken

of function and form

a Tyrrhenian people who

thrived in the unwritten mists

of Italic prehistory

long before Gaius Octavius

undertook schema for empire

taking significant parts

of their models and myths

for the canons of Rome

a material people whose

ruins and relics still tantalize

all but mere gleanings of tombs

lost to conquest by time

life and language and liturgies

left to meticulous guesswork

of erudite dons who like me

share this bloodline of mystery

veins running sweet with

enigma and echo of origins

favored by warmth

in the whispers of

bronze Tuscan sun