22 DECEMBER 1950, Page 13

On a Statue of the Christ Child

0 UNPERTURBED and casual flowering face. 0 wild-rose tranquil hand outstretched to bless. Can that uncomprehending smile embrace All incomputable human wretchedness ?

Or do our hopes yet hang on innocent things ? Not on the iron power of chained men, But on the strange new-born. Beyond our sky, Whose calculable and cold astronomy Will lead us back to moon-dead earth again, A child-god stretches His unmeasured wings.

ISOBEL CUMMING7.