As the moon sinks, the mob rises with the day

Both peasants and noblemen enter the fray

Hundreds approach the city’s pulsing heart-

They’ve heard the games are about to start

Within a ring of stone, with arches grand

Once exalted heroes will take their final stand

At the promise of such splendors, the crowd excites

As a brave soul prepares for a new day’s fights

The gladiator hears the crowd and buries his fear

A thousand eyes, a thousand voices jeer

They’d watch him kill, they’d watch him fall

For to them, he is no man at all

Blades clash, his valiance a mask

His soul bound to this cruel task 

To fall or fight, to live or die

Under the watch of Rome’s great eye

The sand beneath his feet turns crimson red

For his freedom, how many men must be bled?

But each time he feels he’s almost beat down

He reminds himself of the man wearing the crown

The gladiator’s eyes rise as he fights his own grief

To where the emperor sits crowned in a golden wreath

The afternoon sun seems to set his fine robes ablaze

As he returns the gladiator’s stare with an amused gaze

He stirs in his throne, extending an arm

Bearing power, wealth, and unending harm

The gems embedded in his crown

Reflect the blood stains on the ground

When the sun at last sets, the crowd stilled

Leaving behind the blood that’s been spilled

The gladiator survives to see another night

Awaiting the call with morning’s first light

Maybe gladiators are born to fall

But compelled by revenge, he’ll defy them all

Filled with heroes and tyrants history won’t forget

Is this empire on which the sun will never set