15 FEBRUARY 1957, Page 13

Too Late

She said : Let us speak together of the time that is past.

We may' not speak together of the time that is past.

It is no use.

The poet sang : Even God cannot alter the past.

Even God cannot alter it; Yet man may betray it.

We may not remember the kind words, The kind words that we speke.to one another, For the kind words are bitterness, Bitterness to the tongue.

We may not think of the laughter, The laughter that rang out together, For the innocent laughter is on the other side of the river, The river full of filth and slime.

The furies, the furies That haunted Orestes were only memories, Ghosts that would not be still, Yet could not be welcomed to the soul.

H A ILSH A M