Helogabalus-Momus

The deaths he caused were accidents He committed no murder Oh yes, some died of fright when they woke up in the night To find a leopard in the room where they'd been lain after the feast They should have known, those silly fools, the beast was tame Heliogabalus wasn't to blame For the deaths I'm illustrating in this quilt Heliogabalus cannot share any guilt Cannot share any guilt Some lived to suffocate under the suffocating weight Of a thousand fresh-cut blooms He sent cascading from the ceiling of his room Upon a crowd of his admirers How was he to know some sybarites Would drown beneath the flowers? If a parasite can't swim should we blame him? He was blond, he had blue eyes, he was completely without guilt As I intend to demonstrate in my Heliogabalus quilt They condemn his four year reign, his naked chariot team The deadly snakes released in the forum at the climax of the games His nights of gay debauchery, rushing through the slums Disguised as tavern potboys, perfume sellers, barbers Such exaggeration, such slanders! If you'd been emperor of Rome at the age of just 15 Wouldn't you have done the same? So why then does his name Retain the mantle of the evil always claimed by joyless vultures To explain the strange allure other cultures? Heliogabalus wasn't to blame He was beautiful and sexy and completely without guilt As I intend to demonstrate right here in this quilt Condemn me freely if you wish But when my quilt is finished I intend to sleep as soundly and as well As Heliogabalus in hell