26 NOVEMBER 1954, Page 14

MEDITERRANEAN POEMS

Greece and Rome II' your troop-ship is sailing in fine Weather from Port Said to Gibraltar, And you sense behind the hard sky-line Athens and Rome—temple, dome and altar Rising just out of reach, feel no regret. Forget they were your life-long dream, forget

You have read the classics. Enjoy the sun, The flashing sea, remember that others Crossed these waters hunted by bomb and gun, Remember the wives and the mothers Who will wave to the lazy ship As she moors at the end of her trip.

Athens and Rome perish once you have been Up the Acropolis or in Saint Peter's.

Ancient cities live only when seen In drowsy dreams by modern lotus-eaters. Death is the dreamless, the living must divine A Greece and Rome beyond the hard sky-line