4 APRIL 1952, Page 22

Nil Nisi Bonum

Bone idle, Idyllically bone, I shall mock the fidelity Of the angels in stone That watch the dead.

Bone idle, soon Too lazy to turn in my grave, To get up at twelve, To go down at cock-crow- Instead I shall rise at noon, as I did when alive.

And I shall haunt no one With any but pleasant thoughts, Leaving no debt, no regret. I shall not care If Helen was fairer, Jane was wiser. Write on the tomb, Here Lies A Lazy Poet of the Idle Word, Of whom No one has heard. INNES RITCHIE.