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Writing > Users > Sylvan Sylph > 2008

Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction


The following is a piece of writing submitted by Sylvan Sylph on August 26, 2008
"I don't know if Nero was or was not responsible for the burning of Rome, but it seems to me that it wouldn't be a far stretch for a man who burns people as torches to have the city set on fire for a pet project.

As easy as it is to castigate Nero for all the wretched things that he did, one should consider that all governments ultimately rule by the consent of the governed. Nero could never had done the damage he did if he had been removed from the throne, which apparently he was, by the Senate, at the age of 31. My question is, "Why not sooner?"

I don't condone anarchy (at least not seriously), but I also don't condone the murder of hundreds or thousands of people by one man, simply because he is in a position of power. I find myself asking how many people were looking the other way, waiting for someone else to do something, and convincing themselves that there was nothing they could have done. How often do we do the same today?"

Burning Rome

Rome is burning;
Buildings turning
To ashes and to dust.
Water falling.
Voices calling.
Everything burns to rust.

So find your fiddle;
Play a tune.
It won't be long.
It's over soon.

Flames are rising,
Not surprising.
The king plays with matches.
Cities burning.
World keeps turning,
Not for those fire catches.

So play your fiddle;
Watch it burn.
Why does it seem
We never learn?

People crying.
Children dying.
How could this come to be?
This denying,
All this lying
We did not want to see.

So here's your fiddle
Sing your song.
No point asking
Where we went wrong.

Rome is burning.
We are learning
The price of arrogance.
Nero's laughing.
Hear us asking,
"Is there a second chance?"

Throw down your fiddle.
Burn your bow.
Can you not see
It's got to go?

There is no riddle
In the flames.
Open your eyes;
Stop playing games.

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