“The fragrant crimson flowers were withered and blackened seven days later,
When Night equaled the Day, and Pisces the Fish became Aries the Ram…
Seven days before the vernal equinox, a freshly-cut bouquet of blood-red roses
blossomed on a snow-white toga…
And love died on the edge of a blade.
How much sharper than a rose’s thorn, than a serpent’s tooth,
is betrayal by a trusted friend? A beloved son?
“Et tu, Brute?”
the Ides of March, 44 B.C.
[The above poem was written on the occasion of the assassination of Gaius Julius
Caesar, the great Roman general and consul. The author is a little-known Roman
poet, Garius J. Minterius.]
[The following song/poem is by Dion, a singer-songwriter of late 20th-century
United States of America.]
“Abraham, Martin, and John…and Bobby”
“Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people, but it seems the good they die young…
I just looked around and he was gone…”
Remember the great men who gave their lives for justice, peace,
and freedom…
