Saturday, March 10, 2012

64. Julius Caesar

The sun came home
From his mighty conquests
People feared another ambitious man.
Instead Pompey reasoned with them
Making Crassus and Caesar suns themselves.
To make this bonding deal last
Pompey made a few business deals
To keep everything in the family.
On her head Pompey placed his three-star crown
Hoping Rome would stay that way
But one of those stars
Felt that his position
Was too small for his ambition
Julius Caesar, one such star
Weeping tears of Alexandrian dreams
Packed his bags,
Gathered his comrades
Setting off to conquer Gaul.
Many fell to Caesar’s legion
As he continued his way north.
Neptune stopped him with a storm
When he tried to finish off the Celts.
Caesar came back to Rome
With offerings of jewels to his people.
He adorned Rome like a goddess
To the dismay of Pompey and his peers.
Crassus died.
New people were brought in.
The senate asked Caeser to disband
As he came to the shores of Rubicon.
That was where they drew the line
As tensions weakened government.
When neither side refused to back down
Ambition caused a river to be crossed
Civil war was declared.
Caesar, with his laurels of hubris
Seduced an Egyptian queen.
A second river then was crossed
When, with three little words,
“Vini Vidi Vici,”
Caesar declared himself Emperor.
“Beware my king,”
The soothsayer said,
“For you will cross one last river.”
Beware the ides of March.
He couldn’t hear the soothsayer’s warning
His hubris laurels were worn too proudly.
Many senators thought them gaudy
So they plotted and found behind their backs
Some help across the third river.

2 comments:

  1. You clearly know your subject. How do you compile your poems? There is some subtle rhyming in this, is that intentional?

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    1. Thanks! Very kind of you. I took History as a minor in college so many of my sources came from text books. One of the classes was on Ancient Rome. I also have a few literature books leftover from then too. Many of the rhymes were kind of accidents. I saw them and took advantage.

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