We stand accused – bread and circuses
Jesus tells the crowds he meets today
You’re only here because you saw the signs
And because I gave you bread you love to eat
Juvenal it is the Roman poet
Who wrote the line that I quote today
A critic of his time and generation
Worth the study to help us find the way
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes
Another of his lines
Who will watch the watchers so he asks
And if you want a worthy goal to aim at
Mens sana in corpore sano is the task
And growing up in Nazi Germany
The writer Heinrich Boll discovered him
And treasured all his writing as a guide
Against the propaganda thrown at him
So back to Jesus and the crowd around
Do not live for bread and circuses
Do God’s work every day you live
Believe in the one whom he has sent
Brian Fahy
2 May 2022
Erris Poetry 