Archtype
An arch was built for Constantine
Which in all truth did contravene
His taste in things artistic,
Hellenistic,
So they say.
The roundels, all but two, were fine,
And some reliefs were quite divine.
Who put that frieze mechanical,
So very un-Trajanical,
With figures stiff and starchlike,
So un-archlike,
On display?
Will we ever know the culprit
Who for laughs one morning sculpt it?
Oh, Maxentius must be smiling
At the styling
Done that day.
—Published in The Classical Outlook