birthday

"eeeeeeeyeow" screached a low swooping gull
over trajan's market by the forum
crowds were downtown last night
roma is celebrating birthday number 2761
how about that? two thousand seven hundred sixty-one

an old cat was walking around the ruins looking harmless
but the seagull thought otherwise and kept squawking
the feline eventually got the hint and departed
we were street level above the ruins, looking down on them

the official roma birthday day day is 21 april
nothing happened then, it was just selected as the day
meanwhile festivities will go on until 9 may

that's like roma, no quick birthday
people are out there now, concerts are going on
and that tells you a lot about how this city operates

in brief, like everything,
they make it up for the occasion
and do whatever they want