The sole purpose of this poem was to be able to use the first pair of rhymed words—encountered in the Shackleton Bailey I am moving through... at a snail's pace.
Cicero on the Eve of Civil War
His utter ruin vaticinated
He knew not what to do,
But haltingly tergiversated,
Reviewing his review--
Declaring, “I know whom to flee,
But know not whom to follow,”
In either case reluctantly
Conceding victory hollow:
Come either Caesar or Pompey
To helm the head of state,
The Rule of Law had died the day
Ambition grew so great.
'Twas not the paltry Rubicon,
But previous lines being crossed
In multitude, that one by one
Saw the Republic lost.
“I warned, admonished ere the threat
Full flower came to show:
'Nip here this bud'—we did abet,”
Thus clamored Cicero.
“Ourselves we nurtured and built up
The means of our destruction,
So Mars, which shuns no side its cup,
Pours war’s ruckus and ruction.”
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