Listen to the world’s best poetry read out loud.

Arbeia: a fort of the Arab troops

Cold is what they will notice
first, this company,

Syrians from the Tigris,
landed on the Tyne.

The commander will take
one look, fish out his cloak

and have a new house built,
underfloor heating throughout.

His troops, every chance, will haunt
the baths, lap up

steam, swap memories
of warm summer nights.

Barates of Palmyra,
finding his bed cold,

will buy a woman
of the Cattivellauni,

free her, marry her,
name her Regina.

She’ll hold to the light
the brooch he bought her,

listen, smiling,
to his tales of deserts,

fig trees, shaded gardens.
When, aged thirty

for ever, she is figured
in stone, the east wind

and the river mist
will chill Barates

less than his suddenly
ungoverned house.