Ode to Virgil

1

Astral mechanic! Forecaster of empires! Vergilius!
The children of Europe are gathering under your stars.
They throng the dialectical Squares and Roundabouts.
They are marching through medieval walls and streets
under flags all the colors of your far-flung planets.
The children of Europe are marching into the constellation of Orion
under the blue flag of morning, marching under red flags
into their parents’ bedrooms at the instant of conception,
marching under black flags into the death camps!
They are cracking the armored seed of history, storming
your citadels in divine frenzy, like locomotive sunflowers.