The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

1/12/2015

The Wicked Fairy at the Manger       U A Fanthorpe

My gift for the child:
No wife, kids, home;
No money sense.  Unemployable.
Friends, yes.  But the wrong sort –
The workshy, women, wimps,
Petty infringers of the law, persons
With notifiable diseases.
Poll tax collectors, tarts;
The bottom rung.
His end?
I think we’ll make it
Public, prolonged, painful.

Right, said the baby, That was
roughly
What we had in mind.