It started with a rustling among the angels,  
When the first pine tree plume exploded out into the unsuspecting sky. 
when deep in the chambers of Mount Vesuvius, something stirred, 
A spell-bounding disaster only the gods above could electrify.  
 
Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, angry at the people, 
Watching the mortals simply stand-by 
Wasting their beautiful gift, they called the Earth.  
And now the gods thought only a disaster could rectify. 
 
Many chose to flee; children on backs, bags slung on shoulders. 
The ash, a plague floating in the air like a haunting butterfly. 
Slowly, clogging the air, adulterating and tainting to an unbreathable quality. 
Salty tears and red rims afflicted the sensitive eye. 
 
Some believed this to be the end; as the world was said to end in fire.  
A smell wafted of a burnt something no one could identify, 
Many looked up to the heavens, watching the moon disappear 
The notes danced through the debris of a mother singing her last lullaby. 
 
And now deep inside the mountain; the lava simmered. 
Boiling energy ready to implode and out of the mountain, fly 
Blistering, like the forges of Hephaestus in Mount Olympus 
Poisonous gas and thousand degree rocks tainted the once blue sky. 
 
It rushed like a barricade down the mountainside. 
Toppling, destroying all in its path, like a ravenous horsefly. 
The angry mountain spewed flames like dragon’s breath. 
Those remaining watched helplessly; knowing their fate was to die. 
 
The barricade reached the already condemned city, 
A woman stood in the street, a child climbing up her thigh. 
The light left her face as her flesh burned on impact 
As her and her baby, screamed a gut-wrenching cry. 
 
The dust settled during the city ten feet under, 
Where her immaculate palaces and streets will forever lay.  
The once busy streets of Pompeii a ghost town. 
But perhaps the gods had a right to justify.