GOSSIP

This is a poem based on an extract from the Aeneid: Virgil (70 BC-19 BC). Book IV, lines 173-197. 

 

Gossip, hearsay, rumour:    

Daughter of Mother Earth    

Ancient Romans believed.        

Imagine a small child,           

Oozing from filth and dirt.    

 

Overnight she becomes huge, a hideous monster.   

Her ugly body is covered with dark feathers,      

At the base of each one, an eye, an ear, a mouth, 

And a forked tongue dripping poison onto the lips    

Of credulous mortals, here, there and everywhere.  

 

By night she flies swiftly,      

Screeching through the shadows,   

Eyes never closed in sleep.  

Such speed gives her the strength   

To travel miles and miles.   

 

Sometimes this vile creature perches on tall buildings.  

Ever watchful, she surveys the scene. Snap judgement. 

‘The truth!’ she shrieks, distorting and fabricating. 

She clings to what is false, mixing fact and fiction 

To concoct a brew, both toxic and beguiling.   

 

See her lurking in towns, 

Prancing and scurrying.

She observes and listens,

Ears pricked up for ‘secrets’.

Eager to overhear ‘news’. 

 

She delights in telling lies and making mischief.   

Juicy morsels and tasty titbits feed her spite.   

Dear friend, beware of what you see and hear and read.

The picture you get is not always as it seems.  

Shun this goddess: give her the contempt she deserves.