Caesar’s Antics

An Original Poem by

Diana Benskin

Copyright@Diana Benskin

While Rome is Crumbling

Caesar is fiddling

Heads of State at loggerheads debating

And his Cabinet staff continue resigning

While Rome is Crumbling

Caesar keeps fiddling

The democracy he is not saving

From the brink of collapsing

Caesar’s leadership skills are not emerging

While Rome is continually crumbling

Another is tactfully recruiting

Those Romans whose skill is inventing

Rome’s citizens are protesting

Their cries Caesar is ignoring

While Rome is crumbling

Caesar is demanding

A show of military might Parading

And to the South a wall he will be building

While Rome is Crumbling

Caesar is rendered powerless as he is fiddling

By force or will Romans are exiting

An orchestrated purging

Caesar’s wish for ethnic cleansing

While Rome is crumbling

Caesar does what he  is best at, fiddling

The  coffers are no longer brimming

Rome once perched high, now a downward slope spiraling

While Rome is crumbling

Caesar pouts as he is fiddling

The world is watching

The Romans for Caesar’s impeachment they are calling

But at the throne he is steadfastly remaining

While Rome is Crumbling

Caesar has ramped up his fiddling

New laws he is implementing

Tactfully the once United Rome he is slowly dividing

To conquer and rule he will be winning

Romans arise and in Unity Resist!

To conquer Caesar we must persist

Get up Stand up and profoundly insist

This tyranny will no longer be allowed to exist 

 I am an African born in the Caribbean, the eldest of my 11 Siblings. I was fortunate to end up in the custody of my maternal Uncle and maternal Grandmother after being born to an unwed immigrant mother in the Caribbean.

Under my uncle’s  loving care , I was encouraged to speak properly and was given the autonomy to explore my surroundings and to question my uncle on issues that puzzled me. I was encouraged to use my creativity and to read a lot.
The above foundation laid the premise for my inquisitive tones of my poetry and to invoke question and thought in my readers. I also seek to remind and record  readers of historical events.

At eight years old I was sexually violated by an unknown assailant, I was told that I went from being a happy go lucky girl , to an angry troublesome child. It was at this time  I was quickly  jettisoned without any reason given to me back to the care of the woman who birth me.

I no longer enjoyed the free flow of dialogue , instead all I heard was to shut up, no one wants to hear you and your ramblings. I was subjected to verbal, emotional, psychological and physical abuse from her. My mother referred to my poetry as nonsense and crazy ramblings that will amount to nothing. I was a mere child of ten years old when this was being said to me, and so I gave up documenting my thoughts on the world around me, but I retained them in my brain .

“Spoken words from the mouth of this Babe” is the culmination of those ramblings.   I have also written my life story, “Per Ardua Ad Astra” Latin for Through difficulty to success. The life story of one West Indian Girl.  I am currently working on releasing another Collection “Reflections, Spoken words of an African Immigrant. I am also hoping to release the first in my children’s book series The Adventures of Nugget the dog.

I would like to pay  tribute to my Maternal Uncle and  Grandmother,  and my inspiration for writing poetry Maya Angelou. I would also like to thank Dr. Mac for his infinite encouragement to pursue my writing, to my many friends who were my ears of approval or not when I read them my works initially. 

Special thanks to Mrs. Judith Byer who saved my life after I was stabbed by my mother  and nearly perished as a teenager. Lastly but not least to my God Mother Helen Weekes (deceased) who was an inspiring surrogate mother to me.

In the poem  below, I seek to compare the society in which I reside in today , with that of ancient Rome. As we continually witness the dysfunction played out in the USA. It will be appearing in my upcoming anthology “Reflections, Spoken words of an African Immigrant. I am one of the nominees for Author of the year under the Divas of Color 2018.

Caesar’s Antics

An Original Poem by

Diana Benskin

Copyright@Diana Benskin

While Rome is Crumbling

Caesar is fiddling

Heads of State at loggerheads debating

And his Cabinet staff continue resigning

While Rome is Crumbling

Caesar keeps fiddling

The democracy he is not saving

From the brink of collapsing

Caesar’s leadership skills are not emerging

While Rome is continually crumbling

Another is tactfully recruiting

Those Romans whose skill is inventing

Rome’s citizens are protesting

Their cries Caesar is ignoring

While Rome is crumbling

Caesar is demanding

A show of military might Parading

And to the South a wall he will be building

While Rome is Crumbling

Caesar is rendered powerless as he is fiddling

By force or will Romans are exiting

An orchestrated purging

Caesar’s wish for ethnic cleansing

While Rome is crumbling

Caesar does what he  is best at, fiddling

The  coffers are no longer brimming

Rome once perched high, now a downward slope spiraling

While Rome is crumbling

Caesar pouts as he is fiddling

The world is watching

The Romans for Caesar’s impeachment they are calling

But at the throne he is steadfastly remaining

While Rome is Crumbling

Caesar has ramped up his fiddling

New laws he is implementing

Tactfully the once United Rome he is slowly dividing

To conquer and rule he will be winning

Romans arise and in Unity Resist!

To conquer Caesar we must persist

Get up Stand up and profoundly insist

This tyranny will no longer be allowed to exist