Dr. Roopali travels several millennia, telling us about the destruction of Pompeii in 79 AD. From the pages of an encyclopedia, through history, she tells us about the pandemic, a contemporary reality in the 21^st century. An exclusive for Different Truths. 

There is a city we grow up in. A city we may have never visited, yet only heard of and seen in one’s technicolour mind.  For me it has always been Pompeii. Since I was a child, I have visited and revisited this ancient city repeatedly. In those colourful glossy pages of Lands and Peoples Encyclopaedia my father gifted me on my birthday. 

The many stories of a city preserved as it was on that horrific day. I travelled through the pages and pictures. And it was as if I had been there and known the people intimately.   

Pompeii was a famous ancient city in southern Italy. Located southeast of Naples in the Sarno plain at the base of the volcano Mt. Vesuvius. Founded at the end of the seventh century BC, the town of Pompeii was built on a lava flow. This is the city, which ‘froze’ in the heat of molten lava as Mt. Vesuvius spewed fire and brimstone.  

Excavation of Pompeii 

The ancient city, Pompeii, was excavated in the 19th and 20th centuries. And its excellent state of preservation gives us invaluable insight into daily life.  The sheer volume of data this presents makes it one of the richest archaeological sites in the world for scholars.  

It was the morning of 24th August 79CE. It was a rich bustling city of wealthy villas with wall hangings, murals, and marble statues. It flourished in trade and commerce in expensive products. But the city turned to ashes. Just like that. 

The volcano had begun to rumble. As the day progressed, fire and smoke had bellowed from the roaring volcano. Like a fireworks display, a massive explosion blew off the top of Mt. Vesuvius. 

Scientists have since calculated that explosion to be 100,000 times greater than the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima, in 1945. By night, a cloud of volcanic ash had buried the whole city. Asphyxiated, baked and buried. People, animals and structures were lost forever. 

My poem recreates that day. 

Pompeii AD 79

Apollo creator and healer of pandemics 
stood sentinel as Vesuvius the Furious
left untouched with fire and brimstone 
the flaunting figure of insane tyranny....
The Third Emperor of Rome
Gaius Julius Caligula!
 
Tourists walk about 
Peering staring looking
at nothing ...
A chill wind blows across the 
meandering once blue river Sarno 
as it slowly heavily flows past
carrying Pompeii AD 79
 
The fiery orange molten lava 
slithered down the mountain side
like a greedy cunning snake 
Its forked tongue moving fast 
throwing black bits of burning red coal 
gestating for a millennium and more
in the earth’s intestines.
The abandoned table with remnants
of a last meal of figs, peaches, olives 
garlic and millet bread.
The sudden contorted bodies, 
the skeletons scattered 
the flesh boiled and peeled pink,
skulls exploding drowning the 
roar of the Vesuvius spewing 
cumulus smoke and stones and 
the terrible orange heat. 
 
A bustling city and two thousand 
of them baked and fried. 
The walls still radiating red.
The sculpted figures frozen white 
 in the heat of lava and
 raining funereal ash.
 
Weeping sorrowful witnesses
the sarcophagus like wine jars 
now stand huddled in a row.
The Gladiators left behind 
their armour of strength and courage 
and vaporised even before 
the thunderous crowds 
could cheer them on.
Lava shocked brick walls 
stand still and the haunted streets
are peopled by ghosts at night.
 
The Sarno river filled with 
acrid gaseous of industrial sewage 
Now flows slow and heavy to Naples
and the innards of the Earth keeps boiling 
again waiting to explode. 

Our total disregard for the environment leads to the conclusion of the poem. A note of warning on the river Sarnus, modern day Sarno, considered to be Europe’s most polluted river. 

Buried in Lockdowns 

We are buried again. This time, in Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.  Our cities are closed shut. We live a buried life like raccoons, waiting for Corona to explode again, and again.   

Pompeii today is a deserted city. Digital access can take you on a virtual tour as a whole world unfolds itself. I no longer imagine that day. I can now see it like a traveller, sitting here in my padlocked home. 

Visuals by Different Truths

Dr. Roopali Sircar Gaur

Dr. Roopali Sircar Gaur is a poet, travel writer, and social justice activist. A former professor of English Literature at Delhi University, and a creative writing professor at IGNOU, she is a widely published academic and creative writer. Her book Twice Colonised: Women in African Literature, is a seminal text on women’s socio-political empowerment. In 2020-21, she co-edited two poetry anthologies – In All the Spaces: Diverse Voices in Global Women’s Poetry, and Earth Fire Water Wind.

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