31 DECEMBER 1943, Page 11

THE SUB-CONSCIOUS I

A SECOND abler I (I know not how, or why)

Forms with me an indissoluble conjunction, More than I know it knows ; It never needs repose ; But when I sleep can still serenely function.

Why, then, should one so great Upon my humour wait, Responding passively to my suggestion?

It works both good and ill, According to my will,

And, should I stoop to sin, would raise no question.

Yet, if, by some mischance, I fall into a trance, Subservience turns to virile intervention, Revealing powers so vast That Reason gapes aghast, By problems faced that pass her comprehension.

THOMAS THORNELY.