Lariano Sleeping
by Frances Roberts
Through the metal bars of fencing
green as the plants within
a view of late Autumn harvest:
rosemary in flower, olives and vivid capsicum,
a small bay tree flourishing,
melons, lettuce, parsley, rocket,
whirling spirals of mating insects,
figs and lemons weighing down
the branches of stubborn old trees….
squat speckled lizards move
with surprising speed
in a rattle of dead leaves —
but only the dogs have voices here at siesta.
PHOTO: Rome, Italy. Photo by Maxim Sergeenkov, use by permission.
NOTE: Lariano is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Italian region Lazio, located about 22 miles southeast of Rome on the Alban Hills.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Frances Daggar Roberts is an Australian poet who grew up in a remote area, where she began to write poetry to capture the love she felt for plants, animals, and landscape. She now lives in a bushland setting close to Sydney and works as a psychologist treating significant anxiety and depression.
POETRY and PLACES 