The Soul Of A Century/Tiberius
TIBERIUS
(Venom of Judea)
Look! All the lights aglow, and yet you cannot fathom
His soul§s true worth . . . . A shadow cast over the ages
And he, who cast the shadow, no longer can be seen.
He ruled the world, himself a lonely beggar
Surfeit with flatteries, through which he clearly saw.
Detesting mankind, self as well detesting,
He slew his soul, deprived of life’s
Few pleasures by his fellow beings.
He destroyed his soul, that he might further live,
Wanting to live, that he might ridicule
The undernourished life of starving souls.
And then he died, like a flickering feeble taper
Whose flame was lit at night, but threw no light.
The barking dogs who used to lick his footsteps
With frothing mouths, attacked his memory,
In dog-like manner, tearing it and yelping.
Plebian brains called upon their inner lights,
That they might better gauge and measure him
According to the scales of scheming merchants.
And Tacitus who tried to paint on canvas
The picture of his battered, murdered soul,
Was so engrossed by the fervor of his painting,
That only the image, not the soul, lives on.
Lights all aglow . . . and he is still in darkness.
A mystery . . . a riddle . . . a shadow cast over the ages,
And he, who cast the shadow, no longer can be seen.
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.
| Original: |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929. The longest-living author of this work died in 1942, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 81 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse |
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| Translation: |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was legally published within the United States (or the United Nations Headquarters in New York subject to Section 7 of the United States Headquarters Agreement) between 1929 and 1977 (inclusive) without a copyright notice. The longest-living author of this work died in 1987, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 36 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse |
