The Goths

The Goths
by Tennessee Williams

Men who could drink the wolf’s hot blood
or stuff their bellies with dry grass.
The Goths were giants and they came on
when spring unlocked the mountain pass.

Crazed fugitives declared they wore
headdress of horns but were not shoon
and women they had ravaged bore
gigantic babes that burst the womb.

The Romans on their golden plain
doubted that half this talk were true.
Goths might devour a woman’s breast
But could they bite a man’s skull through?