JOHN BETJEMAN(1906-1984)

One learned to accept and allow

the occasional knife digging deep

when so much of the satire

at one's own life and class

was so good-humoured and friendly,

an old uncle admonishing you,

half-heartedly and with a smile,

knowing you would never change.

He knew one could be better,

and that everyone, even of his class,

needed a voice of conscience

reminding but not pushing,

caring and accepting with a sigh

that a conscience loaned in kindness

would never become part

of the furniture of the mind. Never

blaming, rarely saying he

laboured in vain

and forgave.

06.11.2017