Saga of the North: Roman -

Roman

Now to the faint clink of swords
And wolfish snarling of the twisted tubas
Rome throws out white veins of roads to bleed the world.
Over the castled wall in Britain
Pea-sized rocks are tossed to crush
The ant-men in the furze.
Eagles over S. P. Q. R. change to crosses over I. H. S.
Then, as the city-heart withdraws its blood,
Towns flare into the midnight sky,
The flames of villas taste the stars,
Moonlight floods the empty cups of amphitheatres;
Hun fire glitters in the Parthenon;
And silence settles upon the northern hemisphere.

OVAL SCRIPT OF GIANTS
PUNCTUATED BY RUIN,
WORDS OF THE RUINED AQUEDUCT
MARCH IN THE LETTERS OF ARCHES
OVER THE PAGE OF CAMPAGNIA
INTO THE ALBAN HILLS.