CAESAR’S LAST BREATH
by MICHAEL SALCMAN
Caesar’s Last Breath
—Enrico Fermi (1901-1954)
On the Ides of March, great Caesar stabbed to death
by friends, expelled his final breath
in exclamation, an accusation I’m forced to share
by Fermi’s calculation each time I respire in joy or despair
an atom of the cry my Mother gave in giving me birth
or later, my Father’s shout at exchanging the earth
beneath our feet, from blooded Old World to New.
What holds the star-winged atoms of our bones but the glue
of universal speech, the pneuma of life?
Each day exchanges the oxygen of kings with child and wife,
the lips of long gone fiends exclaim with those in doubt
or pray in unison with the most devout.
Less a calculus of breath than perverted fate
how often we exhale love and fill our lungs with hate.
End of the poem
15 random poems
- Николай Языков – Благодарю вас за цветы
- Юлиан Анисимов – Камнем сгрудилась комната
- Death by Thomas Hood
- Олег Григорьев – Сказал я девушке кротко
- Владимир Британишский – 1848 год в Зимнем дворце
- Chloris in the Snow by William Strode
- Smoke Off by Shel Silverstein
- Children’s Games by William Carlos Williams
- On Virtue by Phillis Wheatley
- Emotions in exile by Shailendra Chauhan
- Orpheus by William Shakespeare
- A Twilight Song poem – Alfred Austin
- Аля Кудряшева – Слишком уж зол ветер
- A Captive Throstle poem – Alfred Austin
- Владимир Высоцкий – Мистерия хиппи
Some external links:
Duckduckgo.com – the alternative in the US
Quant.com – a search engine from France, and also an alternative, at least for Europe
Yandex – the Russian search engine (it’s probably the best search engine for image searches).
