Skip to main content
Author
Twas here they strangled Vercingetorix.
Here the Numidian tyrant, as the knot
Drew tighter, rolled his eyeballs scarlet-shot,
Shivered, and died, for all his politics.
And there are other names you ought to mix
With these, to show us that you know a lot,
But which unhappily you have forgot.
A memory will play a man such tricks,

Dull little guide who tread the Sacred Street,
Lying about your ancestors. God knows
His purposes. The she-wolf, I suppose,
Had she foreseen you and your shrugs and grins,
Forth from the suckling lips had drawn the teat,
And breakfasted in quiet on the twins.
Rate this poem
No votes yet