July 31, 2025
Borghese Gallery, in the north of Rome.
A former vineyard and Cardinal’s home.
The Borghese dynasty, power and wealth bestowing.
Buzzing cicadas dominate our garden walk.
Dodging bicycles and scooters as we talk,
as we make our way to the famous museum.
Marcus Curtius leaping into a gaping hole.
In Roman myth, Curtius saved their souls.
Courageous man and horse sculptured all-knowing.
Persephone, with her trickle of tears
Her abductor, Pluto, marbled for 400 years
Visitors slowly circle around, wide-eyed and viewing.
David hurling the rock, Goliath in his sight.
Intense and hating eyes, all his strength and all his might.
The rock that will bring him down so he can behead him.
Apollo grasping for Daphne, but in vain.
Her father, Penues, grants her plea to gain
freedom. Transforming before our eyes.
Daphne’s hands turn to twigs and leaves.
Her arms into branches, Apollo grieves.
We look in awe at Bernini’s magnus opus.
Busts of famous cardinals in each room.
Rossi’s trompe-l’œil fresco so entombed
of the Roman civilization and Roman heroic virtues.
Caravaggio’s Saint Jerome, stark in red.
Symbolic of death, futility, the skull head.
Jerome’s twisting hand extended to the inkwell.
Mentally fatigued, but richly inspired.
We leave the gallery, happy and tired.
The Italian summer sun warming the topiary hedges
as the cicadas bid us goodbye.
What is one of your favorite museums?