Scheduling Conflict
“It is cause and effect that I hate!”
He explained with disdain high and great.
“Though it may be a sin,
I refuse to give in:
I’ll reschedule my meeting with fate!”
–Tom Riley
The New Emperor
He hid behind the curtain to survive.
They found him and they made him Emperor
Of all the world. “Come on, lads: look alive!”
They hoisted him on shoulders as before
They’d hoisted no one. Ah, one Caesar more—
And then, perhaps, another after that!
The ancient commonwealth? Hell, why restore
That madness? They could have an autocrat—
And, even if he ended up a brat
Fit for assassination, still his power
Would cram their own firm jaws till they grew fat.
They shaped their futures in that lucky hour.
And all their benefits were fixed for them.
They did it more by whim than stratagem.
–Tom Riley
Messalina
Competing with the representative
Of the expanding Guild of Prostitutes,
She truly shows how Caesar’s wife should live:
She tears up all conventions by the roots.
Previous leader ladies have been beauts
In their own ways – but none has quite done this.
While slaves serve wine and dance and play their flutes,
She tries to steal an empire like a kiss.
Strike off her pretty head! the Furies hiss.
Give it a start – and we shall do the rest.
He’d have to be an awful fool to miss
That chance, to fail that small and simple test.
He doesn’t miss. He doesn’t fail. How sad!
After the fact, he wishes that he had.
–Tom Riley
Latro in the Mist
All he remembers day to day
Is what it means to be a man.
What fools and liars choose to say
Fades from his mind – and that’s the plan.
If you are not indeed a fan
Of what is virile and direct,
Then he’ll affront you, as truth can.
Your hatred he won’t recollect.
His is a hard role to perfect—
But his performance must impress
The ones whose views are most correct,
The ones we all fear more or less.
For, though his memory is dim,
The very gods appear to him.
–Tom Riley
Olympic Wrestling
“Training alone will not a victor make.
To seize on skill of any kind is hard.
But, when you carry forth this highest prize,
Shout aloud with the greatness of your heart
That, by the ordinance of God, this man at least
Was born with valor’s brilliance in his eyes.”
–Pindar, “Ode to Epharmostus, Victor in the Wrestling,” trans. T.R.
We got rid of that wrestling stuff—
But held on tight to rhythmic dance.
Rhythmic gymnastics? Close enough.
The point is that, as times advance,
The future’s vast and bright expanse
Puts an end to the past’s dull claims.
We have to take another stance.
These are the new Olympic Games.
Excellence – chief among the aims
The old Olympics targeted—
Is something that our own age tames
And even cages till it’s dead.
A natural aristocrat
We bind and smother. Wrestle that!
–Tom Riley
In the Realm of the Punctual Devil
He was late for salvation, poor guy.
Though he rushed, though he moved to apply
All his strength, all his speed,
He just didn’t succeed.
And the punctual Devil said: “Fry!”
–Tom Riley
Culture of Complaint
It’s the culture of careless complaint
I exalt before sinner and saint.
Tears and cursing and sighing:
They need no justifying.
Am I happy? I’m happy I ain’t.
–Tom Riley
Insincere
“All your expressions, sir, are insincere!”
“I’d call that true perfection of a kind
Unparalleled in history.” “Look here:
All your expressions, sir, are insincere.
Observing angels shed a giant tear.”
“I fear I lack the quick angelic mind.”
“All your expressions, sir, are insincere!”
“I’d call that true perfection – of a kind!”
–Tom Riley
Flammeus Gladius 