pax romana

see note for reviewers.

oh,

boastful & bloodthirsty empire

stretching yourself silly

from “sea to shining sea”

will there ever be a moment of peace

again?

must you continue

rising like yeast

to command the breadth of the world

until you become far too burnt for anyone to

enjoy

anymore?

even rome had a

pax romana

even icarus

paused for a moment to strap his sandal back up

before

flying

into

the

sun.

Author's Note

"Americans cannot escape a certain responsibility for what is done in our name around the world. In a democracy, even one as corrupted as ours, ultimate authority rests with the people. We empower the government with our votes, finance it with our taxes, bolster it with our silent acquiescence. If we are passive in the face of America's official actions overseas, we in effect endorse them."

- Mark Hertzgaard

"I have read carefully the treaty of Paris, and I have seen that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Philippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem. It should, it seems to me, be our pleasure and duty to make those people free, and let them deal with their own domestic questions in their own way. And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land."

-Mark Twain, New York Herald, Oct. 15, 1900.