Fall of Rome

You never know it is the end of an empire

the day the empire ends.

No one mentions when you are

buying your last case of champagne at Costco

to enjoy it while it lasts.

Water has been flowing through the aqueducts for years:

it never even occurred to you to look up

and notice the dampness seeping from tiny cracks,

like teeny tears in an aorta.

You might have run into

a few Visigoths on your Sunday morning huevos rancheros run

but just like barbarians at the gate in years past

you assumed they would fatigue in the Phoenix sun,

or join alliances

so they could come in for a margarita.

Rome fell in a day,

on a Wednesday,

just as you were heading out for wine,

still driven by your appetites,

like a proper Roman.