<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">The Fall of Rome </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><font size="3" class=""><i class="">(for Cyril Connolly) </i></font></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">The piers are pummelled by the waves; </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">In a lonely field the rain </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Lashes an abandoned train; </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Outlaws fill the mountain caves. </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Fantastic grow the evening gowns; </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Agents of the Fisc pursue </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Absconding tax-defaulters through </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">The sewers of provincial towns. </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Private rites of magic send </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">The temple prostitutes to sleep; </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">All the literati keep </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">An imaginary friend. </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Cerebrotonic Cato may </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Extol the Ancient Disciplines, </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">But the muscle-bound Marines </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Mutiny for food and pay. </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Caesar's double-bed is warm </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">As an unimportant clerk </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Writes I DO NOT LIKE MY WORK </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">On a pink official form. </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Unendowed with wealth or pity, </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Little birds with scarlet legs, </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Sitting on their speckled eggs, </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Eye each flu-infected city. </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Altogether elsewhere, vast </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Herds of reindeer move across </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Miles and miles of golden moss, </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Silently and very fast. </div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- W. H. Auden </div></body></html>