After the Thirties

Even Auden came to God in post-war years

And he did quit while we weren’t ahead –

Although his Manhattan destination

Was not yet cursed by fiscal deity

And forgiveness can be found for that voice

Which, no more confused than, say, Aquinas

Preached a pretty practical kind of love.

And who not born again can think clearly

About their deficits without some help?

Clarity, he proves, isn’t simplicity:

A limo’d abstraction – for poet or banker –

Adds up to a lack of vision, shorting

Opportunities to gain in kindness,

And perhaps the market for such brutal

Compassion is up for the brutal

While compassion needs bailing out, but

After attacks September went viral

Proving a universal gold standard

Which all kinds of people appreciate.