On the Departure of the Conquerors

When the Roman Empire fell in the West, was it necessarily a good thing? Here is the commentary of one old man.

The Legion marches to embark.
You fools! You laugh at day's last light,
Not caring what waits in the dark --
You should weep, silent, at such sight.

Without a drum, as slow as stealth,
Great Rome, who's held the world in sway
So long, so far, the world herself
She seems, begins to melt away.

The bodies of unnumbered slaves,
On which she built, must now decay:
The Christ-cult from the East, which saves
From death, they claim, casts life away.

And life is emperors mad and mobs
Whose Hydra-whims make Caesar's sane;
The Vestals say their goddess sobs --
I too can taste salt in the rain.

These men have not corruption's stains;
The border breeds a sterner sort:
But now the Empire inward drains --
A sore achieves what spears could not.

The Legion marches to embark;
The silence waits an end to glee:
The peace of power is gone, and stark
Will be what all our children see.

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