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The Fall of Rome
by W. H. Auden
The Fall of Rome - W. H. Auden
The Fall of Rome
The piers are pummelled by the waves;
In a lonely field the rain
Lashes an abandoned train;
Outlaws fill the mountain caves.
Fantastic grow the evening gowns;
Agents of the Fisc pursue
Absconding tax-defaulters through
The sewers of provincial towns.
Private rites of magic send
The temple prostitutes to sleep;
All the literati keep
An imaginary friend.
Cerebrotonic Cato may
Extol the Ancient Disciplines,
But the muscle-bound Marines
Mutiny for food and pay.
Caesar’s double-bed is warm
As an unimportant clerk
Writes I DO NOT LIKE MY WORK
On a pink official form.
Unendowed with wealth or pity,
Little birds with scarlet legs,
Sitting on their speckled eggs,
Eye each flu-infected city.
Altogether elsewhere, vast
Herds of reindeer move across
Miles and miles of golden moss,
Silently and very fast.
from W H Auden: The Collected Poems published by Faber & Faber in the Uk and Random House in the USA, copyright 1976, 1991, 2007 the Estate of W H Auden, reprinted by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Ltd for the Estate of W H Auden. All rights reserved. Recordings used by permission of the BBC