SIR ROGER TREPAN was a sensitive man, and very much moved by the war.
It made him aware of a number of things that he never had thought of before.
He realized now he’d habitually left a rich man’s obligations neglected,
And he formed the conviction that this dereliction must immediately be corrected.
” In my soul that was dead
Comes a rushing of wind.
Peccavi! ” he said,
“I have sinned, I have sinned.
It’s my duty,” he said, though these brigands
With their super-tax leave me half broke.
Now the country is solid, to brighten the squalid
Drab lives of less fortunate folk.”
II
Sir Roger Trepan was a resolute man, the grass grew not under his feet ;
When he once had decided the course he must take he never would own himself beat.
Aflame with his high patriotic resolve to show the morale of a bart.,
He embraced a career of deliberate devotion to England, and so for a start
He ordered a lackey
To telephone through
To Jimmy and Jacky
And Topsy van Boo
To request them to join him at dinner
And then come and watch Tree from a box.
That the Leeds unemployed might no more be annoyed
By the heart-rending shortage of socks.
III
Thenceforth-O the change, the miraculous change, from the thoughtless Sir Roger of old !–
With the strength of a saint and a statesman he ordered his most minute outlay of gold.
He could not be persuaded to buy a fur-coat, he would scarcely take tea with his aunt,
Without full satisfaction that each such transaction would benefit some one in want.
That His Majesty’s lieges
Should have a straight lead.
He ran a few gee-gees
To keep up the breed,
And shot grouse for our poor wounded heroes
And danced for the Belgian Red Cross,
And took personal pains that our
French friends’ champagnes
Should not be produced at a loss,
IV
All hail to the war for the blessings it brings! And how could one estimate which
Are the greater, the gains that accrue to the poor or the benefits reaped by the rich ?
For the poor now perceive that the rich, whom of old they regarded with baseless dislike,
Though they seem to be merely amusing themselves may be helping all classes alike.
If they act as trustees
For the money they spend
The tangoest teas
May bring fruit in the end,
And game – preserves, cars, and casinos,
Rightly handled, are sound as a bell,
And polo at Ranelagh may be not merely manly
But socially useful as well.
V
And the rich, . . . Oh what prospects of service! What vistas of generous deeds !
They will never neglect, now they’ve found out a way, their poor fellow-citizens’ needs.
They’ll rejoice now they feel that they need never more of the ancient class -feeling be frightened,
That they’ve learnt during war to distinguish ‘twixt pleasures which are, and which are not, enlightened.
They have opened their eyes,
Though at very long last,
To their blind and unwise
Lack of heart in the past,
And at last seen the sense of the Gospel
That they should not be selfish, like hogs.
That the Children may eat till they’re round and replete,
But they must leave some crumbs for the dogs.
(John Collings Squire)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, Mind Poems, War & Peace Poems, Sense & Perception Poems, Christianity Poems, Thought & Thinking Poems, Gold Poems, Money & Wealth Poems, Past Poems, Work & Career Poems, Charity PoemsBased on Keywords: heart-rending, jacky, polo, lieges, lackey, brigands, trustees, bart, transaction, shortage, outlay