The night draws on apace on rushing wings,
A task of urgent consequence now looms.
This time of day a seething turmoil brings,
For I must choose between a pair of dooms.
The Rubicon held Caesar's army out;
He pondered on the wisdom of his quest,
Then boldly broke the shackles of his doubt
And marched on Rome. 'Alea iacta est!'
A hellish monster on both left and right,
But brave Ulysses through the strait did fly,
Defying deathly rocks and whirlpool's might.
Like demi-god and hero, so too, I
'Twixt Scylla and Charybdis must decide:
Tonight - McDonalds or Kentucky Fried?
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Author Notes
in 49 BC Julius Caesar led his army across the river Rubicon, effectively declaring civil war. 'Alea iacta est' (The die is cast) was his statement of the irrevocable nature of his action.
According to legend, the hero Ulysses returning from Troy, had to pass through the Strait of Messina, risking the sea monsters that guarded either shore - on one side, Scylla, a treacherous stretch of rocks represented by a six-headed monster and on the other side, Charybdis, a deadly whirlpool. The scene is depicted in the artwork above.
And as for that last line.... well, nobody said a sonnet had to be serious, right?
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