PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

[the Second or Third Century, A.D.]

Caesar:  why are so many disappointed

in these administrators you selected?

Why is our City's unity disjointed?

Why are so many commoners dejected?

What brings forth this unusual condition?

Your propositions are soundly rejected

by ordinary people, who most fear them,

before the Senate has a chance to hear them.

Why are some Senators threatened with censure

if they express some honest opposition?---

or even, in open discussion, venture

an alternate perhaps more viable?

In speaking thus, why are they liable,

to penalties---civil and criminal?

You claim to comprehend far more than most;

to understand war better than a host

of officers who served in heated battle

while you stayed back, counting your coins at home,

safely ensconced in your palatial tower,

delighted by your moneybags' low rattle.

You did not learn that honor governs power

to be used to advance the cause of Rome

(and make for all of us a better home);

not to enhance your look, or line your pockets,

or buy your trophy spouse trinkets and lockets.

You do not serve the interests of our City

but only those of your close family,

and your dear friends among the millionaires

(like Crassus of damnable memory).

You recognize only authority

that emanates from your own (twisted) self,

while dust grows heavy on your sole bookshelf.

You do not lift, nor offer to help shoulder

the heavy burden of our daily cares

Oh, yes, Caesar, you will earn lots of fame:

and see a curseword fashioned from your name.

You will be judged as the epitome

of selfish boors in abject infamy;

a pebble that believed it was a boulder.

No prayers will bless you; and profanity

will fling you to the deepest pit of shame.