23 MAY 1987, Page 54

It Can't Be Happiness

`You mustn't despair', she wrote. 'Despair is sin.'

And so it is, but from what origin?

From what first history thinking can't recall (Being pedantic, crude, mechanical) Does cynicism come: poison so sweet It sours success, relishes defeat?

The antidote is happiness. But when (Knowing that I am happy) I snatch a pen And write, the happiness seems lies, A childish pose, a ridiculous disguise In comparison with truth. Continuous, real, It can't be happiness, this thing I feel: Sureness of God, of Adam, of the Fall.

It can't be happiness. It can't be happiness at all.

Michael Cullup