5 JUNE 1941, Page 10

BE PATIENT

DEEDS up to date are bad enough ; A topical man runs mad.

I should prefer to ponder things I formerly had.

A sin forgotten is a sin Repented of and salved. Evil, by process of neglect, Is halved.

Think, if a woman troubled you, And tore you, shred by shred, Would you not curse her beauty, Wish yourself dead?

But such a curse were premature ; You'd but need to wait, And time would set her loveliness Beyond love or hate.

And think again, if an armed man Shall desecrate your house, In a few years that noise will sound Like a foraging mouse.

Charred passion, and a broken wall, Make ruins that will lean With more significance than the unrifled Originals now mean.

RICHARD CHURCH.