Then, careful with a great care, each in eagerness for royal rule, they are intent on the watching and soothsaying of birds…Whether they should call the city Roma or Remora—this was their contest.

-Quintus Ennius, The Annals

The city was never built
because Romulus killed his brother.
The rose you gave me blackened
in the open air, no time even to suffer.

On the ground where blood slayed blood,
white roses will no longer grow,
nor in my own garden,
which I will never sow.

And the black rose turned blue;
in my window it begins to wilt.
Roma did not mourn the loss
of the city that was never built.

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Devin Gackle graduated from Loras College with B.A.’s in Media Studies and Creative Writing. When she’s not watching things like Murder, She Wrote, she enjoys writing/performing songs for her songblog, and writing stories. She also loves reading, sarcasm, flannel shirts, making movies, making up words, caffeine, and wearing mismatched socks. Her work can be found in Outrageous Fortune Magazine and The Limestone Review. http://devingackle.wixsite.com/portfolio/like-it-is

Photo credit: Terri Malone