Living Kingdom of Poetry by Sushant Thapa

There should be a kingdom of poetry

Like the Roman empire

Where Marcus Aurelius ruled.

A scent of betrayal by his coward son Commodus,

Who kills his father Aurelius- the Cesar

Of the throne.

The bravery of Maximus,

The Colosseum of Rome

A vast cheering mob,

The senate of intellect.

One’s name has to be killed

If one doesn’t die soon;

This is how betrayal talks.

A soldier (Maximus) touches the soil

For saving Rome.

Senate is the think tank,

Rome is its people.

A kingdom of poetry can grow

If one lives poetry.

I have watched Gladiator

With much interest.

Rome looks like guiding kingdom

Of Poetry, which it once needed

When Commodus misruled

For entertainment and organized fight shows.

But I really want to live poetry now.

The movie taught me how politics

Itself is not a dirty game,

But the players need to wash their hands.

A Kingdom has dire desires to fall or be,

In the hands of frigid rulers.

Poetry also learns itself

From people,

Now poetry has asked people

To live like it really can be,

Like one immortal Roman Empire

To our understanding, in every aspect.

Loosely based on the movie Gladiator

Sushant Thapa (born on 26th February, 1993) is a Nepalese poet from Biratnagar-13, Nepal who holds a Master’s degree in English literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He has published five books of English poetry, namely: The Poetic Burden and Other Poems (Authorspress, New Delhi, 2020), Abstraction and Other Poems (Impspired, UK, 2021), Minutes of Merit (Haoajan, Kolkata, 2021),Love’s Cradle (World Inkers Printing and Publishing, New York, USA and Senegal, Africa, 2023) and Spontaneity: A New Name of Rhyme (Ambar Publication House, New Delhi, 2023).