19 MAY 1933, Page 11

Poetry

The Dead

NOT till my Spirit's naked and ashamed, And free of mortal flesh, would I desire

To sit in close communion with the dead.

I would not hear a friend exclaim in ire- " When I was poor and kept your borrowed money, You sulked apd let our blood go cold and thin."

I would not sit and hear a woman say- " What do you want with me, poor child of sin ; Where did you hide your face for ten long years-- The face I missed beside my dying bed ? "

Not till my Spirit's naked and ashamed,

And free of flesh, would I approach the dead.

W. H. DAVIE3.