Norman Cameron
Punishment Enough
They say that women, in a bombing-raid,
Retire to sleep in brand-new underwear,
Lest they be blasted out of doors, displayed
In shabby garments to the public stare.
You've often seen a room, sliced like a cheese,
Betraying its poor secrets—peeling walls
And warping cupboards : of such tragedies
It is the petty scale that most appals.
When you confess your sins before a parson,
You find it no great effort to disclose
Your crimes of murder, bigamy and arson ;
But can you tell him that you pick your nose?
If after death you pay for your misdeeds,
Surely the direst and most just requital
Would be to listen while an angel reads
Before a crowd your endless, mean recital :
Golf scorecards faked, thefts from your mother's purse...
But why should Doomsday bother with such stuff ?
This is the Hell that you already nurse
Within you : you've had punishment enough.
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