Athens
The air-raid siren howls
Over the quiet, the un-rioting city.
It’s just a drill.
But the unearthly vowels
Ululate the air, a thrill
While for a moment everybody stops
What they were about to do
On the broken street, or in the slow shops,
Or looks up for an answer
Into the contrailled palimpsest of blue.
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A.E. Stallings is standing for election as Oxford Professor of Poetry.
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