THE VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE


So thats alright then the Church
is no longer the pitiless heart
of the State ( despite Bertolucci ) the sun
shines on the just et cetera
but the heart is
physically on the left
the force on the right
( le droit fait le pouvoir )
and the new moralism
is seeping slowly into
the crevices of the culture
a ruthless substitute for politics
glove in velvet glove with the
not so invisible hand of capital

                  upstream the ducks stand at
the silvery rivers edge shaking their tails
quacking before the frost
pierces the wintry dusk
and forces their delicate heads
under the wing of night

the consolation like the devil
is in the detail

be still
my troubled heart
and so be still