Roman boredom

After Acts 24

I’m bored. This is boring.

What I must endure to rule

these stiffnecked people,

listening to stupid disputes,

constantly arguing over

their religious laws and rules

like angry birds. And

this Tarsian demolishes

their stupidity with a glance,

a word, a small gesture,

an expression on his face

suggesting he, too, has heard

all this before. I should set him

free solely for easing my boredom,

along with some recompense

suitable to my position.

The more he talks, the more,

inexplicably, my concern

grows. I am a Roman,

a governor appointed by Caesar,

in Rome a man of position and

wealth, and this follower of the way

in this backwater, this privy

of the empire, fills me

with unnamed fear.

Illustration: Paul before Felix by William Hogarth.