Thunderstorm at Castel Sant’Angelo

(view from Castel Sant’Angelo after the thunderstorm)

Thunder boomed outside,
cannoning the mausoleum
we were interred in.
Slogging up its spiral
walkway, covered with
solid stone as the bangs sounded out.
Surrounded.

We opened onto
a small courtyard
where gutters spewed
out eager fountains.
And the footways swam.

Then we sat, sheltered,
as the lightning flashed,
viewed through ancient arches
and you told me,
eyes down and closed-in,
how vertigo goes,
and I tried to empathise,
whilst drinking in the beautiful downpour,
as the city submerged.