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