15 FEBRUARY 1992, Page 33

Evergreen

It's strange when you think of it, just how few Poems in journal, quarterly or review Draw on the Bible or Book of Common Prayer.

I mean, you'd imagine poets might still care To conserve those wellsprings, not let them go dry, And respect all that those old resonances signify. But the everlastiung waters have ebbed to what seems drought, And the Tree of Knowledge looks to be grubbed out - To adapt the new language of ecology To that shared Christian legacy.

Why, in the stained glass of Chartres Cathedral, the rood Is green-coloured always, for Grace and life renewed.

Simon Curtis