Poem to Peter Quennell.

Watching the demonstration there at the window
Old in his misunderstanding of movements
Yet full of knowledge of the many headed "people,"
Gleaned from the playing fields of Eton,
He reflects that opposition to a 7nan of war
Is so unnaturally in conflict with affairs of state.
Among the faces of the lunch-time crowd before him
Undoubtedly are men whose raging minds cause paint to fly

And ignore the wealth of a Texan handshake
Because of the rifle the left hand implies.
Demonstrations are the dialectic of issues.
In the morning the bourgeoisie will read what they want to read

Secure and happy with their newsprint
That behind protesters' footsteps none walk behind.
Workingmen, students and intellectuals
All are naive in their political desires
What nonsense movements at Berkeley and L.S.E.
When students wear communal hearts on common political sleeves.

"Irrational" "alienated" "shocked" "opinion polls"
All count against the "disenchanted number.
While a political scientist asks why they don't re-elect the same faces
When a vacuum's debated every three years?

M. C. Rowlands