Oracle
Desperate eyes
You can tell by how they dart
Intense focus
Running hard eyes
Scanning the approaching emptiness
Diocletian naked
His vestments and glory shed
The Praetorians commanded away
Stripped of the raiment’s of power
Approaches the Oracle
So much success, big office
Big cars … houses, boats and bonds.
A 401K and golden parachute
Now he says to those he leaves behind
“It’s time to give back”.
Throwing double headed coins
Crowned with the Augusti
He crawls into the Oracles cave
His heart pumps, his knees scrape
He crawls into the darkness
It sounded good that “giving back”
Generous, indeed, why not?
Magnanimous came to mind
Those who pushed him out applauded
Glancing at the clock
“Who approaches?” came a cackle
Voice from deep within the cavern.
“I am Diocletian, Emperor of Rome,
The living god Augustus,
Founder of the Tetrachy
The Oracle wheezed disinterestedly
You see them now the former
CEO’s, COO’s, CFO’s
Grasping at new definitions
At the club… on the board
Charity organizers…Giving back.
Diocletian I’ve heard of you
Wheezed the Oracle
Emperor, God, General… but
Are you a man? Do your knees bleed
On my floor?
Is your bare skin cold?
Frozen smiles behind sparkless eyes
Except in the gilded cave of night
The woman snoring at his side
Tired from trying to keep up
Heard the oracle long ago
“I am Emperor of all the Roman empire,
I am worshipped as a living god”
I have traveled long and hard
To speak with you
To ask you a question of great import.
His heart races in the dark
Eyes clenched tight
Grasping for threads of sleep
That vanish on a cloud of truth
A cackling voice whispers his eyes open.
And now the Oracle grows angry
“Are you asking as a god … or king
Or man”?
“What difference does it make…?”
Cried a voice accustomed to obedience
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