Marcus Aurelius, For All Of His Self Poem by Joseph S. Josephides

If you sit on my throne and rule, believe it or not,
you’ll see in the Yard corrupt guys, harlots, magicians,
a river of blood for sacrifices, wars, arenas; you’ll see
usurers to flay you - and after you the poor people-
you’ll see bodies destined for orgies and graveyards.

Do not say – as I did naively– ‘it happens in this world’,
Furies are furious, may condemn us all: “Shame on you
people of Argos, you ugly sign and load on the earth.”

I’m Marcus Aurelius and philosophize on all of my self:
bodies are for decay, decomposition, life is a single drop,
my soul is a whirlwind, a steam, destiny resembles air,
essence and caress are absent, the fame goes to oblivion.

But if you reign in a wise mode, without betraying,
if you push away from you the delight, the insult, the lie,
you construct a foundation, a strong win over sufferings.

Then accept the plague, as I do, in a stoic sense;
do interpret: the fall as apple, the pigeon as Peace.



© JosephJosephides