The Citizens danced
  Romulus cried

Centurions posed
  in Legions wide

“The world is ours”
   they said in glee

“And death to those
  who don’t concede”

The past unyielding
  future loaned

The present flew
  like David’s stone

Their party ending
  candles burnt

With spoils poisoned
  lessons spurned

And history writes
  that in a day…

What once was Rome
  was cast astray

Whose legend carved
  in stone reminds

What young Narcissus
  hoped to find

The glory that once
  ruled the world

Now left in rubble
  myth unfurled

As time awaits
  to stalk our path

That wolf inside
  —as history laughs

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2018)