Bridge of Sighs
Rohan Buettel
from the water reflects
the beauty of symmetries
six columns and floral windows
limestone white in morning light
roof and base matching arches
sealed by a curlicue of scrolls
between squat pedestals
the carved facade replete
with busts of mythic figures
inside, we briefly pause, glimpse
a gondola gliding on sunlit canal
through a slivered aperture
in thick rough-hewn stone
the chiselled lattice forming
a pattern of tightly bound
intersecting circles, the openings
all diamonds, pointed petals
and curved triangles
a last glimpse for petty criminals
before the incarceration that awaits —
small cells on the other side
Flash Issue 7
Rohan Buettel lives in Canberra, Australia’s capital city. His haiku have been published in various Australian and international journals (including Frogpond, Cattails and The Heron’s Nest). His longer poetry appears or is forthcoming in Penumbra Literary and Art Journal, Mortal Magazine, Red Ogre Review, Reed Magazine, Meniscus and Quadrant.