Nero’s Lesson 


Art, Untitled (Blue) by Pinchas Maryan

Leaders that hate 

Leaders like Nero 

There’s no debate

They’re absolute zero.

–

Compassion lacking

Hatred up front 

Cruelty gobsmacking

Insanely blunt.

–

War is hell

A hell they love

Their people aren’t well

Poverty they shove.

–

Propaganda and lies 

Political machines

Mother and babe cries  

And all in between.

–

Murder or revolution

Will make them retire

A simple conclusion 

Like Nero and the Roman Empire.

–

Ché, Pott, Castro, Perón

Lenin, Stalin, Pinochet, and Hitler

Men content to be alone

No exceptions, a stickler.

 –

Death before compromise

Led to bitter ends 

Only now can we surmise 

What tyranny portends.

–

Societies fall, it’s no riddle

As the world turns

Nero and his proverbial fiddle

Playing as his Rome burns…

-AAA 10/05/2024

¡NO!

Originally Published 04/03/2024

Originally composed to a young girl on a bet for a kiss in 1992, when she pointed to a garbage bin that read “No fire no ashes” on the side of it as my subject of inspiration.

No heat no fire.

No wants no desire.

–

No pain no gain.

No clouds no rain.

–

No love no hate.

No destiny no fate.

–

No passions no sex.

No more emotional wrecks.

–

No music no beat.

No fire no heat.

–

No wanting no need.

No selfishness no greed.

–

No water no sea.

No you and no me.

–

No ins and no outs.

No whispers no shouts.

–

No future no past.

No first no last.

–

No sharing challenges or feats.

No posts and no tweets.

–

No sky and no moon.

No April, May, or June.

–

No warmth no sun.

Last line I’m done…

-aaa