A poem after reading C P Cavafy's "In Alexandria 31 B.C."

- for Jim Murdoch at The Truth About Lies 

War News


From a village over the hills to the south
 His bicycle covered with grime from the ride
The seller of chestnuts arrives in the town

And dismounts; he unfastens his sack on the square:
 Chestnuts for roasting! he shouts. The crowd
Is excited; speakers are playing the music of Wagner.

Gestapo are marching an old man away. It looks like 
 The priest, he hears someone say. There's a roar 
From the crowd, and from the high windows paper rains down

In a Gothic script strange to his eye. What does it mean? 
 He yells to a girl with a sheet. The youngster comes near:
Our Führer is winning in Russia! she screams.