The Fall of Rome - W. H. Auden

[Larry Robinson]

The Fall of Rome 


(for Cyril Connolly) 


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. 

	- W. H. Auden 
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