I wasn't too old when I first was told
the tale of Caesar's breath,
how wide dispersed was that painful burst
he emitted on his death.

How those molecules flock in random schools
diluting through the air
in a gaseous stew full of cee-oh-two,
that we breathe in, unaware.

In every breath we take, though it makes me quake
may come at least one molecule
of what Caesar gasped as he bled his last
at the feet of Brutus cruel.

With how little care we do share the air
drawing breath across our tongues
inhaling history all unknowingly
every time we refill our lungs.


For my late uncle, a lifelong Robert Service aficionado.