The Spike [: or, Victoria University College Review 1957]
Conrad Bollinger — Judgement
Conrad Bollinger
Judgement
To God upon his throne there gathered from
The scattered nations of the earthly shade
The newly dead"—and in the great parade
Two children murdered by a napalm bomb.
A mist of tears choked God's old heart, and shame
That his all-powerful hands had framed at once
Those lovely children and these murdering guns,
Life-giving flames of sunlight"—and these flames.
No waxen virgin, wooden crucifix,
Pray to him to forgive. His seeing floats
Upon a living contractor who licks
His finger, counts his thousand-dollar notes.
Anon, says God. For this abyss of crime
There waits the silence of the after-time.