PANEM ET CIRCENSES (Bread and Circuses)

The gates laid open, as the manic chants rang out 
A cadre moved in cadence toward the afternoon death route
Sudoral bodies honed and sculpt performing pugil art 
Weapons ready, patrons blaze, wait carnage for to start
And the crowd cried Bread and Circus, Bread and Circus 

The duelist took their turn, weighing out the verdict
Crowds grew loud and anxious, attack now starts in earnest
The strikes begin with bestial blows and heavy lunging thrust 
Half a man laid in his blood, wide open was his guts
The crowd cried louder Bread and Circus, Bread and Circus

Next to exit from the gates were beast beyond the Nile
Tore into legs, devoured a head, cadavers were defiled
With less than ten to carry on, the bearded one continued
He won the fight but lost the crowd, thumbs down was his last tribute
Again, the crowd cried Bread and Circus, Bread and Circus
 
The final act was filled, with extras on the stage
One thousand human’s perished, freemen and the slaves
The abattoir laid many beast, ripped there with the fighters
Who would clean, “the horde cared not” said the nihilistic writer
Now the crowd begged Bread and Circus, Bread and Circus

From trap doors beneath the ground, appeared the wild boars
To take their turn at dinning off the carcass on the floor
The cries sang out from wounded warriors lying in the dirt
Swine’s took turns at feeding off the entrails of the hurt
And the crowd applauded Bread and Circus, Bread and Circus

Decay came fast, inward passed as Goths and Vandals ascended
Without a guide or inner pride the empire doomed its splendor 
The focus on decaying spirit, gifts and promised favors
What was left could not deflect the horsemen, or to save her
The crowd knew there was no Bread and Circus, Bread and Circus
 
Years would pass with Rome’s collapse, a new republic wave
The gladiator and the beast moved to a Broadway play
The Jacobins would cry and moan for Lollipops and toys
Aurora killed the Federalist with one shot it destroyed
The crowd begin to cry Bread and Circus, Bread and Circus

What become, of a century run, a vista proud and gay
Hopes and dreams of common scenes, flourished everyday
But the horizon was surprised when, moving into place
A new mindset, that most beget, and change the many’d face
 
We rebuilt the coliseum and gladiators new age
The crowd embraced and then gave grace, to their newly founded sage
Transcendental statism became a loud monistic view
Popularized by diatribes, and the founders voice askew
And the crowd cried Bread and Circus, Bread and Circus

Beast that kills has been released, moves prowling through the gate
Finds it foe and won’t let go, with mantras from the state
Pick the target then freeze it, personalize the cries
Once you achieve destruction, now you polarize
And the chyron read Bread and Circus, Bread and Circus
 
Is it rust or human lust that caused mores to decay
Time has not been kind to us, the people of today
To what is given must be grown, plant it in the urn
But overload the system, and you will feel the burn
And the crowd cried louder Bread and Circus, Bread and Circus