I found this poem in Robert A Caro’s massive biography of Robert Moses, “the man who built New York.” The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the fall of New York, tells how Moses, without ever being elected, achieved remarkable power that allowed him to shape New York according to his vision over 40 years.

The chapter this poem comes from described the horribly decayed state of New York City in 1932. This decay was not caused, as you’d first think, by the depression but by corruption, inefficiency, and incompetence.

Inevitably the poem reminds of Shelley’s Ozymandias: “Half sunk a shattered visage lies…”

Statues of New York City, 1932. A found poem by Robert A Caro

The faces of were masses of bird droppings,

Obscenities were written on their chests,

Identifying plaques were torn away.

Swords were missing from their sheaths,

Laurel wreathes from brows.

Poets plucked at broken harps,

Saints stood on cracked pedestals.

An Indian hunter had lost his bow.

The bayonets were stolen

The tiger was slipping from his rock.