How empires fall

Note to self

I recently heard a poem by R. B. Morris about the fall of empires, and it stayed with me.

What struck me is that he does not describe wars, invasions, or revolutions. He describes something far more subtle—the small moral fractures inside people that spread through a society long before the collapse becomes visible.

“Forsaking all his better angels
That’s how every empire falls.”

The first crack appears when people begin ignoring the voice inside them that once held them back from their worst impulses. Conscience grows quieter. The inner compass weakens.

“For when religion loses vision
That’s how every empire falls.”

Faith may still be visible in rituals and buildings, but the life inside it fades. What once guided people toward humility, mercy, and moral clarity slowly becomes hollow form.

“For when the heart is never open
That’s how every empire falls.”

People continue living beside one another but stop truly seeing one another. Families gather around the same tables, communities carry on, prosperity may even grow. Yet something essential begins to withdraw. A society can appear strong even as its hearts quietly close.

“You’re only taking orders
That’s how every empire falls.”

Then the erosion reaches the machinery of power. Responsibility is handed over to systems. Laws replace conscience. Obedience replaces judgment. People begin participating in things they would once have resisted, because it is easier to hide inside a role than to stand alone with a moral burden.

“If no one asks, then no one answers
That’s how every empire falls.”

And then silence settles in. The deeper questions are no longer asked. Causes go unexamined. Confusion spreads, anger grows, and what should have been confronted early is left to harden into something much harder to undo.

What makes Morris’s poem unsettling is that he is not really writing about the final scene of empire. He is describing the earlier stages of decline, when everything still appears intact, life goes on as usual, and yet something vital has already begun to give way.

And that, as Morris writes, is how every empire falls.