Song of Social Despair

Ethics without faith, excuse me,
is the butter and not the bread.
You can’ t nourish them all, the dead
pile up at the hospital doors.
And even they are not so numerous
as the mothers come in maternity.

The Provider knows his faults —
love of architecture and repair —
but will not fall into them for long:
he can’ t afford the adolescent luxury,
the fellowship of the future
looks greedily toward his family.

The black keys fit black cylinders
in the locks in holes in the night.
He had a skeleton key once,
a rubber arm and complete confidence.
Now, as head of the family, he is
inevitably on the wrong side looking out.