Author Information
Octavian In Octosyllabics, Or Tetrameter.
Octavian loved to dictate
Rome's laws as his own police state.
And not too long after he died,
this Rome he structured crucified
a Galilaean carpenter
that Pax Romana should abide,
and Pax Augusta long endure.
Henceforth Rome stood straight, cold and tall
and full of marbled civic pride,
flaunting jackboots and uniforms . . .
until apocalyptic storms
would tailspin Rome to its long fall;
until it would raise up, obscenely,
old El Duce, Ben Mussolini.
Starward
