10 OCTOBER 1958, Page 28

Be a Bear

Shaking a box marked 'Please Support our organised mess,' The approachers are not given The opposite of yes, Except where in dark rooms The uncharitable live, Developing their own lights From a repeated negative.

Right, if you like, as saints, Blind, if you'd rather, as moles, When the thunder-clap invites They shake and head-shake in their holes, While civil-minded beasts, Too gentle to refuse, Gregariously add To the weeping and the news.

JAMES MICHIE