We Were There That Day Poem by Paul Reed

People standing high on the cupola, unseen
Under the blue skies of Florence
Behind the alabaster screen
Looking down on us
As we made our nervous way;

The sun was warm on our backs
But we had a train to catch
And we couldn’t stay;
We could only slurp hastily
At the offered cups of history and culture
Scattered through the streets,
Our mark only transient footsteps
In submerging sand;

Our little band of adventurers
Not chic,
Not sophisticated,
But not weak
And dedicated to one another;

The Ponte Vecchio bore our weight
And along narrow footways we edged
The setting almost too great
To take in;
The swift afternoon hours our only possession
Which quickly slipped away
But we were there that day