Daily Poem: Damnatio Memoriae ~ Nicholas Samaras
“Damnation of Memory”
How smart the Roman Senate was
to remove from remembrance all those
who brought discredit to their State by various
causes of dishonor. How smart to close
the record of memory, to erase the existence
of anybody: no life, no influence or legacy.
And you, old mentor, alive in some distance—
who were you to earn no clemency,
being the guru in my impressionable youth,
to lead me to view the magazines you read,
the gossip you spread, nothing about you the truth?
I regained myself when I removed you, instead—
the misdemeanor in my life we don’t discuss.
Who were you? I don’t remember us.
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