Breakage

“Scherven brengen geluk!”* they say

in Dutch—consoling all the more

This klutz, who'd broken on his way

Much stuff by 2024.

Rome in Italy's got a mound,

or hill, of antique pottery

Smashed before empire ran aground:

“Testaceo”—Mount “dei Cocci.”

Witness till the last century

of this anthropocentric time:

Good luck’s but temporary;

Misfortunate the Roman line.

Careless, I rap a glass on wood.

It breaks, the dear delicate thing.

I’d meant it no harm! But good.

Hard luck’s sapiential earning.

*"Shards bring luck!" The German version of this saying, which implies that luck = happiness, is “Scherben bringen Glück!”