Sibylline Spydra

Centuries ago,
Concurrent with the 50th Olympiad
Not long before the expulsion of Rome's kings
An old woman
"Who was not a native of the country"
Arrived incognita in Rome.
She offered nine books of prophecies to
King Tarquin
And as the king declined to purchase them
Owing to the exorbitant price she demanded,
She burned three and offered
The remaining six to Tarquin
At the same stiff price
Which he again refused
Whereupon she burned three more and
Repeated her offer.
Tarquin then relented and
Purchased the last three
At the full original price
Whereupon she
"Disappeared from among men."

In Iambic Octameter

originally published 5/7/11

Embrace ye not the deceivers

And pay the liar no homage;

Tear off the linsey-woolsey suits

Of the sheep’s clothing worn by wolves.

Milquetoasts take warmth and soft comfort

In lives of quick and sure safety;

But heroes do not hesitate

To pay Freedom's steep, hoary price.

Friends, citizens and countrymen,

The moment of truth approaches:

On that day's dark, awful dawning,

Which way do you think you will choose?

the 2008 ad campaign

The definition of SCION

• a detached living portion of a plant (as a bud or a shoot) joined aerially to a graft
• aristocratic descendent
• scion of a railroad empire

Merely some fractured fairy tale?

Or could it mean something much more?

See for yourselves, and then discern.

They always go green in the end.

* * * * * * * *

this post shall serve as preamble

to one sibyl's sober portent