In the 'Dark Ages' <br /> <br />'Have you been with the King to Rome, <br />Brother, big brother?' <br />'I've been there and I've come home. <br />Back to your play, little brother.' <br /> <br />'Oh, how high is Caesar's house, <br />Brother, big brother?' <br />'Goats about the doorways browse; <br />Night-hawks nest in the burnt roof-tree. <br />Home of the wild bird and home of the bee, <br />A thousand chambers of marble lie <br />Wide to the sun and the wind and the sky. <br />Poppies we find amongst our wheat <br />Grow on Caesar's banquet seat. <br />Cattle crop and neat-herds drowse <br />On the floors of Caesar's house.' <br /> <br />'But what has become of Caesar's gold, <br />Brother, big brother?' <br />'The times are bad and the world is old <br />Who knows the where of the Caesar's gold? <br />Night comes black o'er the Caesar's hill; <br />The wells are deep and the tales are ill; <br />Fireflies gleam in the damp and mold- <br />All that is left of the Caesar's gold. <br />Back to your play, little brother.' <br /> <br />'What has become of the Caesar's men, <br />Brother, big brother?' <br />'Dogs in the kennel and wolf in the den <br />Howl for the fate of the Caesar's men, <br />Slain in Asia, slain in Gaul, <br />By Dacian border and Persian wall. <br />Rhineland orchard and Danube fen <br />Fatten their roots on Caesar's men.' <br /> <br />'Why is the world so sad and wide, <br />Brother, big brother?' <br />'Saxon boys by their fields that bide <br />Need not know if the world is wide. <br />Climb no mountain but Shere-end Hill, <br />Cross no water but goes to mill. <br />Ox in the stable and cow in the byre, <br />Smell of the wood-smoke and sleep by the fire; <br />Sun-up in seed-time a likely lad <br />Hurts not his head that the world is sad. <br />Back to your play, little brother.'<br /><br />Willa Sibert Cather<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-palatine-2/
