The Fall of Rome
by W. H. Auden
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. Cæsar'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.
OMFG, it is actually rhymed, can't believe m' own ears
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Carlyle on blind deference to data (from "Chartism")
A witty Statesman said you might prove anything by figures. We have looked into various statistic works, Statistic-Society Reports, Poor-Law…
-
From Stenbock's "Faust"
I said, continuing my enquiry (which was both official and ecclesiastical), ‘You must tell me exactly about it. I know that you monks,…
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QotD: Regarding the untimely demise of Jo Cox
kouzdra quoted Chesterton's immortal novel once again in connection with Jo Cox's murder, but he did it in Russian, while I'm really,…