Finis Poloniae

a phrase/figure of speech,

that apart from its literal historical meaning

stands in for

the end of empires.

Charged atmosphere,

everything breathes damply,

epicene air—if it could think anything

it would think un-European things like monsoons

and yellow seas.

Greatness bears itself to death,

says its last words to itself,

a foreign-sounding swansong, generally misunderstood,

sometimes tolerated—

Finis Poloniae—

perhaps on a rainy day, bummer,

but in this instance a sound of happiness

followed by solo horn,

and then a hydrangea, most placid of flowers,

capable of standing out in the rain into November,

dropped softly into the grave.