Resposta
Juvenal,
nascido
Decimus Junius,
observador dos
que mantêm
o poder,
agradece a
Dona Dalva,
que mostra
o saber
e faz nascer
do pouco,
a virtude
mais pura,
e a luz
que nos guia
ao amanhecer
de hoje
e sempre.
Suppose we ran it by a friendly Martian
(I’d say “by Martial”, but he wouldn’t be gentle).
You crave Armani, Hugo Boss, Versacci and
that Hilfiger who’s naff, naff. Are you mental?
This myth of exclusivity’s juvenile
(I’d offer “Juvenal”, but you’d refuse).
They’re mass-produced, ubiquitous, stock-piled,
your Sarah Jessica Parkas, Jimmy Shoes.
The Martian, then. We wrap ourselves in rags
to ward off cold, conceal the family jewels,
but put a brand name on those skirts and bags,
you’ll cough up ten times more. “You bloody fools!”
Apartheid is an evil thing, agreed?
South Africa once practised it. You struck.
You staked out embassies, until the blacks were freed.
Embargoes, sanctions, boycotts – oh, such pluck!
But none of you’s besieging Tel Aviv.
Our Martian’s wondering what the difference is.
Ramallah’s raped without a by-your-leave,
but you’re at Burghley, knocking back bucks fizz.
Perhaps we can’t extinguish all life’s fires.
Perhaps compassion tires, and needs its pauses.
Or is there just a chance that it transpires,
there’s such a thing we’ll call “designer causes”?
It's spring time
with its budding
buds and peeping
leafies creeping
out from their cosy
axils in the stems.
Fresh fragrance
smears the air
with the early blooms
smiling away,
wooing willing hearts
waking from the bleak
of winter cold.
Juvenal-
the whiff of youth,
fresh sap coursing
red ichor infused with
a redder red
as life itself
equates to thrill
and being alive.
Welcome, Spring-
dawn of life re-defined.
09 April 2016
Anacreontic Verse 3 - Poetry Contest by Edward Ebbs
"It is hard not to write satire," the ancient writer Juvenal wrote almost
2 milennia ago.
The times now mirror almost too well the decline of the Roman empire.
"Panem et circenses" or bread and circuses was his disgust near the end when Romans were distributed free bread and attended bloody spectacles.
Let's see, may be MacDonalds and television could be bread and circuses today!
Bread and circuses has also become a general term for government policies that seek short-term solutions to public unrest.
Yes, Juvenal, it has become just too easy to write satire today!
See my complete essay at www.http://thomasjamesmartin.com/breadcircus.htm
Adolescent apparitions aquiring apathy.
Beaten bloody, broken, battered belligerently.
Crystal clear causes craving compassion consistantly.
Domimating demons drive desire diligently.
Even emitting echos escape everyones empathy.
Forgeting fatalities frantically follow fiends.
Generally generating graditude gracegully.
Halos hover hypcritical heads hypothetically.
Insolence, ignorance, imbecilic inconsistanties.
Judging juvenal jailbait joyusly, jokingly.
Killing kidness, kidnapping kidlike kings.
Losing leverage, life losing legability.
Man made mongrels, making me more menacingly.
Neurologic nights not needed normally.
Opposing open optimistic opportunities.
Picture perfect prizes, patronized pathetically
Queens quit quickly, quiting quite quietly.
Raging riots, rights read repeatedly
Strategically striking systematic serenity.
Tactical tarrifs terminated typically, thoroughly
Unread universes underestimated universally
Versatile villgers vacated vicously
World wide warfare, wrathful, who's winning?
X-negotiating
Zapping zillions zelously.