The gentle downward slope gets steeper
and imperceptibly becomes an abyss.

It is still beautiful to hear the heart beat
but often the shadow seems more real than the body.

Society's dark hull drifts further and further away. It is this place - the place of our separation, our distinction - that much of his poetry occupies.

We've seen a decline in formality.

We decline to overrule Miranda ourselves,

Overall, it seems that we have to accept that Western civilization will decline. It is, essentially, inevitable.