Cicero's Father Eulogizes

Behold a tattered toga
Ripped asunder by this display of
Bald treachery: Your lifeless
Head and hand tacked unceremoniously
(A wordless bulletin!)
To the site of your silver-tongued triumphs.

My liver is a Pompeiic eruption of
Paternal devastation.

I suffered you once proudly past me, my son.
It was a painful passing of the torch.

You always had the brilliant last word,
The perfect argument.
I could never contest.

Your famous fiery rhetoric is but
A fading whisper,
A muffled sob, a cooling ember.
As am I.
The words have flown with you and
Escape me.
There is nothing more to say.