As History Laughs
The Citizens danced
Romulus cried
Centurions posed
in Legions wide
“The world is ours”
they said in glee
“And death to those
who don’t concede”
The past unyielding
future loaned
The present flew
like David’s stone
Their party ending
candles burnt
With spoils poisoned
lessons spurned
And history writes
that in a day…
What once was Rome
was cast astray
Whose legend carved
in stone reminds
What young Narcissus
hoped to find
The glory that once
ruled the world
Now left in rubble
myth unfurled
As time awaits
to stalk our path
That wolf inside
—as history laughs
(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2018)
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Submitted by KurtPhilipBehm on October 31, 2018
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 30 sec read
- 23 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XA XA XX XX BX XX BX XX XC XC XX XX XD XD XX AX X |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic dimeter |
Characters | 619 |
Words | 102 |
Stanzas | 17 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1 |
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"As History Laughs" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/47667/as-history-laughs>.
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