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ARCHAEOLOGY


The archaeologist's spade


delves into dwellings


vacancied long ago,


unearthing evidence


of life-ways no one


would dream of leading now,


concerning which he has not much


to say that he can prove:


the lucky man!


Knowledge may have its purposes,


but guessing is always


more fun than knowing.


We do know that Man,


from fear or affection,


has always graved His dead.


What disastered a city,


volcanic effusion,


fluvial outrage,


or a human horde,


agog for slaves and glory,


is visually patent,


and we're pretty sure that,


as soon as palaces were built,


their rulers


though gluttoned on sex


and blanded by flattery,


must often have yawned.


But do grain-pits signify


a year of famine?


Where a coin-series


peters out, should we infer


some major catastrophe?


Maybe. Maybe.


From murals and statues


we get a glimpse of what


the Old Ones bowed down to,


but cannot conceit


in what situations they blushed


or shrugged their shoulders.


Poets have learned us their myths,


but just how did They take them?


That's a stumper.


When Norsemen heard thunder,


did they seriously believe


Thor was hammering?


No, I'd say: I'd swear


that men have always lounged in myths


as Tall Stories,


that their real earnest


has been to grant excuses


for ritual actions.


Only in rites


can we renounce our oddities


and be truly entired.


Not that all rites


should be equally fonded:


some are abominable.


There's nothing the Crucified


would like less


than butchery to appease Him.


CODA:


From Archaeology


one moral, at least, may be


drawn,


to wit, that all


our school text-books lie.


What they call History


is nothing to vaunt of,


being made, as it is,


by the criminal in us:


goodness is timeless.


August 1973


АРХЕОЛОГИЯ


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