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Brief selections from the poem "Commius"
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The poem covers a possible southerly march of the Belgae to the Aisne in 57 BC and an attempt to
storm the ramparts at Bibrax where the Remi, a quisling tribe friendly to Caesar is in occupation.The "I" in the poem is Commius. Short passages of the 300-line poem are given. |
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And so we marched like god-men
by the leaning light in the bent crag's eye,
by the bark on the long trees,
moving away from the home duns
with our eyes soft from women's cries and the
sounds of our running children:
All the tribe's earth and the little voices heard in
the new summer suns
we would defend:
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ON THE MARCH
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Then they returned with boxed hearts,
the moon-glow gone from their hair,
their faces heavy;
and Aillet the Young of the Ox-Group
sank to his knees inthe faint mountain light
fringing my tent.
I could tell the news, Caesar was here
in force, our southerly march too slow;
I turned to Divawc
to summon his druids - they scried the sands
but the signs were weak, with death-symbols
and they were confused.
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THE ATTACK ON BIBRAX
FAILS, CAESAR WAS QUICK
TO SEND TROOPS |
