BEFORE AND AFTER YEATS

BEFORE AND AFTER YEATS

The Athens of America
Timothy Leary dubbed our Austin town

Whatever opinion you had of him in life
you must admit he is dead right now

Just witness the round bellied Socrates
peddling wisdom in South Austin agoras

The poetry movements in galleries
still afoot above Sixth Street
from midnight to dawn

Comedy and tragedy enough in Hyde Park
to have no need for Greek theater

And yet the center will not hold

Attack is everywhere

Enemies with impervious armor
threaten to cover the sacred South

Monthly skirmishes break out
between the Nobles and their foes
along the Northern Borders

While all the young Turks
fill the Parthenon with dynamite
oblivious to every warning
the roof may blow off