The Great Fire

 

I stood there, marveling at that great fire,
And began to laugh (silently of course),
Knowing that Nero would now fall to scorn
And that all of Rome, now writhing in flames,
Would add gossip unto gossip and curse
The emperor's belovéd name, or worse ...

-jwm

The Kingbird's Omen

Click the picture, gory but appropriate ...

Spurinna knew all to well the coming fate of that great leader- how couldn't he, for he was one of Rome’s chief soothsayers and interpreters of signs, and all the signs of that fated day besieged him about.

He warned Caesar that an impending danger loomed over him, that he ought to be on his guard and to brace himself through to the coming Ides of March. Caesar would have none of it.

Then came the Ides of March.

Caesar, as he passed the soothsayer on his way to the senate chambers, mocked and called Spurinna a false prophet- for the Ides of March had come to pass and he remained unscathed. But the prophet warned that though it had indeed come, it had not passed. Then Caesar, entering the senate conclave, headlong into the hands of fate did violently perish.


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The Kingbird's Omen

A king-bird flew in Pompey’s Hall
Pursued by others from the grove
With laurel sprig in hand it strove
To hard elude the brawl

But overcome by violence wide
It fell the victim of its foes
And as they there in triumph rose
On purple floors it died

These symbols in Spurinna stirred
And warnings out to Caesar went
But fruitless was the message sent
The omen went unheard

Then there he was near Pompey’s Hall
Pursued by fate and too by Jove
And as he toward the senate strove
There Caesar met his fall

For overcome by violence wide
He fell the victim of his foes
And as they there in triumph rose
On scarlet floors he died

-jwm



Of the Poem (Poetic Parameters):

Stanza: Italian quatrain

Meter: The first three lines of each quatrain are done in tetrameter (or 8 syllables per line), while the last lines in each quatrain are in trimeter (or 6 syllables)

Rhyme Scheme: abba (per stanza)

For a little more about the poem check out the comments area.

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