04-11-2026, 02:07 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-11-2026, 02:08 AM by RiverNotch.)
Shakespeare's Italy
Padua and Messina, on the opposite
ends of the country, are for madcap lovers
who spit both bile and honey at each other
in equal measure. Florence and Sicily also
are found on two different poles, and yet they both
serve very similar roles: where fairy tales
receive their resolutions bittersweet.
Naples betrays Milan, but when in exile
the northern mark forgives the southern cheat.
Venice is where all kinds of people prosper
by piling on one injustice after another,
while in Verona thrive the kind of lovers
whose stars never seem to align, predestined either
the man to betray the woman for his alter
or, for love's sake, the two themselves to murder.
Finally there is Rome. The eternal city,
it never did move on from former glory:
togas are still in vogue, a senate rules,
and often its high streets are drenched in gules.
Padua and Messina, on the opposite
ends of the country, are for madcap lovers
who spit both bile and honey at each other
in equal measure. Florence and Sicily also
are found on two different poles, and yet they both
serve very similar roles: where fairy tales
receive their resolutions bittersweet.
Naples betrays Milan, but when in exile
the northern mark forgives the southern cheat.
Venice is where all kinds of people prosper
by piling on one injustice after another,
while in Verona thrive the kind of lovers
whose stars never seem to align, predestined either
the man to betray the woman for his alter
or, for love's sake, the two themselves to murder.
Finally there is Rome. The eternal city,
it never did move on from former glory:
togas are still in vogue, a senate rules,
and often its high streets are drenched in gules.