This week is bleak, the birds don’t sing
No sun, no rains, but greyness
Even the churchbells didn’t ring
Have they become atheists
The bellman and the bearded dean
And all the congregation?
In times like this to breathe is sin
No promise of salvation
Can take away the truth it fakes
And like a stubborn stem
Grows through the slab, the truth condemns
The order of the damned
So atheism’s a way to go
Believe in politicians
They must continue this old show
Which you can call fictitious
But wasn’t it meant to be as such?
Just ask the God, if you
Don’t think he is disturbed too much
With millions in the queue
That stretches out through centuries
Dead people want to know
What were their lives about, if this
Was meant to be a show
Beware the Ides of March, in case
The warning comes in time
If there is still a time to waste
You doubt it? So do I.
‘Beware the Ides of March.‘
(Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2)
a week from Saturday is the Ides of March
perhaps I will stay home by myself
better keep an eye on the dogs though
they might have heard of Julius
and get some strange ideas
I suppise its been coming, yet its a sad day to see, Rupert
Lowe, has been shopped; on some discrepacy? I have no more
To put here.' I shall wait as must all..Yet a black flag it is
Apparant is now farages livery.' Let This be a lesson on
Not how to fall.'
This day in early March sings
in a gust of wind it brings
the season’s change
life I’ve known rearranged
one day warm the next cold
nature’s changing moods to behold
when each day when I’m awake
nature’s tempestuous moods to partake.
Talk of the weather brings smiles and frowns
what goes up also goes down
and as we face our days of strife
the next day brings cloud in the sky.
My friend, beware of March’s ides
a time when emperors live and die
The virtues, sacrificed
By muscling vices,
Lay dying
Across the dusty crusts of Earth.
The sky, once admirably azure,
Now bleeds dark streams of gray
Above the sight of flying vultures
Flapping, circling in wait.
The ides of March sing consideration
for widows who must accept that new name.
The guides of March bring realization:
life, as it was, will never be the same.
The tides of March trace recalibration
as adjustments to the world we re-frame.
I confide this March in my Salvation.
Where do skeptics go in grief’s waiting game?
The offsides of March face deliberation.
mistakes made, can we move on without blame?
Named for the God of War but trickster is your nature. Each year you bring the prospect of spring. Yet your deceit hides that promise under your cloak of white. I should know better, but you understand how much I need to believe your promises. Beware the Ides of March. Julius did not heed the warnings and you repaid his arrogance with the cold steel of betrayal. Now you say that you are the master of time and will move the sun to bring me another hour of light. But you’ve only robbed from the beginning to repay the end.
Take away from one
to give it to another
human reasoning
Lately, the hedges go unclipped
as apples lay rotting on the ground
The Ides of March, oh woe betide
Twas on this day that Caesar died
Stabbed by his double-dealing men
Remorselessly, time and again.
Twenty-three times the knives were thrust;
Take care therefore in whom ye trust.
09.04.2022
Bite Size Poem No.43 Poetry Contest
Sponsor - Line Gauthier
(I posted this and found out one line did not rhyme, so I had to adjust the second limerick)
That the Ides of March we should beware
is a quote which is not really fair.
Shakespeare wrote it; it stuck
and it now means bad luck.
Of its meaning few folks are aware!
The Ides of March used to denote
the New Year, and so Shakespeare's quote
might make little sense,
but in his defense -
Ides occurred when Caesar they smote!
“The Ides” of ALL months simply means
the moon is a crescent, but beans
do folks mostly know!
new moons come and go.
The Ides fall in months’ in-betweens!
April 9, 2022 for Edward Ibeh's This or That, Vol 11 Poetry Contest
breeze with green leaves compose new melodies
wild bamboos play fluent flute ---
ballet dance of flowers
Bluebells painted sky canopy curls furls
lily white clouds form world maps ---
sun feels shy of shining
birds and beasts play around in merriment
bees and flies fresh nectar hunt ---
snakes end hibernation
golden glitters spread around land and seas
smiles of heaven seen on earth ---
dead seeds resuscitate
05 April 2022
first new moon
the time
to celebrate and rejoice
darkness and light
in equal measure
seedling breaks ground
a change of weather stirs
conversations in the wind
winter melds into spring
conversations in the wind
a change of weather stirs
seedlings break ground
in equal measure
darkness and light
to celebrate and rejoice
the time
first new moon
March 31,2022
Ides of March Contest
Every culture has its special calendar days of note
We have Easter and Christmas, and the day we vote,
The Romans marked their calendar for the 74th day
Festivals and gatherings made it a special holiday
It was known as the deadline for settling up debts
And, historically, it became a day of Roman regret
On March 15 [on our calendar], Julius Caesar was killed
And, as a result, Rome ceased her empire to build.
It was a critical turning point in ancient Roman history
Much surrounding the event, to this day, is a mystery.
[The Ides of March]
Written March 30, 2022
for "This or That, Vol 11" Poetry Contest
sponsored by Edward Ibeh
Upon a sullied, sodden sky
of alabaster and ash,
fantasy's formidable flotilla floats
as charcoal-colored clouds.
And on this mild, melancholy
mid-March day,
they dawdle; dribbling drops of rain
in sporadic Spring showers.
And Winter's whitewashed wonderland
sparingly salted with brown brindled blotches,
magically melts away,
revealing rough, ragged patches
of grassy green.
When Winter's weakened grip gives way;
bulbs freed from frosty tombs
are awakened by the tap, tap, tap, of April's tepid tears.
And straightaway, snowdrops start sprouting;
simultaneously, sending shoots skyward.
Color counters the dullness of this dark day
as a Robin Redbreast abruptly appears,
defying drizzling drops of grey;
with its crimson chest, ornately on display.
Ides of March
In triumphant days, when ambitions surpassed,
cowering in the throng of democracy
before the Senate, Caesar pleaded, “Show mercy!”
Love doesn’t conquer, but vengeance will.
***
Note:
According to the ancient Roman calendar, March 15 is the “Ides of March” and was the day in 44 BC when Julius Caesar (100 BC–44 BC) was assassinated.
“Ides” comes from the Latin word meaning “to divide” and, in the old Roman calendar, referred to the day in the middle of the month (the 15th day of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th day for the remaining months). The Romans used the “Nones” (ninth day before the Ides), the “Ides” (middle of the month), and the “Kalends” (first day of the month) to calculate other dates.
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