Overlooking Brading Haven
a Roman gentleman
spread mosaics
on the floor of his villa.
Orpheus Perseus and Bacchus,
Andromeda Achilles Medusa,
philosopher, gladiator and griffin.
Triptolemus with his plough
Ceres with her staff and grains
Lysurgus and his double-headed axe
tangled by Ambrosia’s vine.
In a marine border
Nereids rode tritons.
Four winds blew conch horns
to herald the weather
and a shepherd conversed
with a water nymph.
The seasons displayed—
Spring with green leaf wreath
Summer with poppies in her hair
Winter with a woollen hood
but the face of Autumn has gone.