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April Twilights and Other Poems

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<h3>THE PALATINE (IN THE “DARK AGES”)</h3> <div class="poetry"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> “Have you been with the King to Rome, Brother, big brother?” “I’ve been there and I’ve come home. Back to your play, little brother.” </div> <div class="stanza"> “Oh, how high is Caesar’s house, Brother, big brother?” “Goats about the doorways browse: Night hawks nest in the burnt roof-tree, Home of the wild bird and home of the bee. A thousand chambers of marble lie Wide to the sun and the wind and the sky. Poppies we find amongst our wheat Grow on Caesar’s banquet seat. Cattle crop and neatherds drowse On the floors of Caesar’s house.” </div> <div class="stanza"> “But what has become of Caesar’s gold, Brother, big brother?” “The times are bad and the world is old— Who knows the where of the Caesars’ gold? Night comes black on the Caesars’ hill; The wells are deep and the tales are ill. Fire-flies gleam in the damp and mould,— All that is left of the Caesars’ gold. Back to your play, little brother.{48}” </div> <div class="stanza"> “What has become of the Caesars’ men, Brother, big brother?” “Dogs in the kennel and wolf in the den Howl for the fate of the Caesars’ men. Slain in Asia, slain in Gaul, By Dacian border and Persian wall; Rhineland orchard and Danube fen Fatten their roots on Caesar’s men.” </div> <div class="stanza"> “Why is the world so sad and wide, Brother, big brother?” “Saxon boys by their fields that bide Need not know if the world is wide. Climb no mountain but Shire-end Hill, Cross no water but goes to mill; Ox in the stable and cow in the byre, Smell of the wood smoke and sleep by the fire; Sun-up in seed-time—a likely lad Hurts not his head that the world is sad. Back to your play, little brother.” {49}</div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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