Spartacus Remembers Rome

Here on the cross, I remember Rome,

Not as the bringer of peace,
Not for the Plebs under Glaberous,
Or the Knights on their Senate seats,
Not for the legions of Crassus,
Nor for Caesar's eloquent speech,
Not for their pneumonous power
Which can even Germania reach.
But for all the staring babies
And rickety bodies whose space
Is confined to a grave of nothing
As they starve in their quiet place.
I can see the whole of the Palantine
From this painful hanging hill,
As I think of their violence and murdering,
I am rent with a piercing chill.
They do not see the suffering
Of my all too human eyes,
But instead watch the soaring eagle's course
As it navigates the skies.
And, like that raptor, they cast cold looks
Upon their barbarian prey
And never a pang of pity feel
For the thousands already slain.
I was a fighter to entertain,
A fighter unto death,
But really I passed quite a while ago
As I never took free breath.

Carl Estrin