Bread and Circuses

Chapter 21: “A PURPOSE OF AMENDMENT”

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About This Book

A lyrical collection of short poems ranges from quiet country scenes and childhood memories to urban sketches and religious reflections. The poet renders streams, gardens, market sellers, and domestic interiors in close sensory detail while pairing everyday observation with moral and spiritual meditation. Animal vignettes and playful pieces for children sit alongside elegies, prayers, and ironic portraits of modern life, producing tones of humour, tenderness, and solemnity. Varied forms and concise portraits move between pastoral lanes, London streets, and intimate household moments while attending to time, sorrow, and faith.

“A PURPOSE OF AMENDMENT”

He who a mangold-patch doth hoe, Sweating beneath a sturdy sun, Clearing each weed-disguisèd row Till day-light and the task be done,

Standeth to view his labour’s scene— Where now, within the hedge-row’s girth, The little plants untrammelled green Stripes the brown fabric of the earth.

So when the absolution’s said Behind the grille, and I may go, And all the flowers of sin are dead, And all the stems of sin laid low,

And I am come to Mary’s shrine To lay my hopes within her hand— Ah, in how fair and green a line The seedling resolutions stand.