Serenity
The silence was so clear,
Speaking in long-forgotten words.
The sounds of the empire drowned out,
By the flood,
It rushed over me,
Pulling me,
Flowing past the walls,
Of our own creation,
Through false gardens,
Where only temptation grows,
I could not see,
Yet it was all so lucid,
the reverberations ascending my body,
One vertebra at a time,
A deafening crescendo,
Then suspended,
In the serene lake,
Where the waters quieted,
Where we all return,
I understood,
A vision without sight,
A sound without words,
I need only open my eyes.

Justin Anthony Mann is an archaeologist and a writer. He is currently a Fulbright Fellow, living in Athens, Greece, where he studies the art and archaeology of the Byzantine Empire. His writing is inspired by the lives of the people and places where he works.