Act of Kindness

To really give the really valuable,

Or offer the last cigarette,

When shops are shut, to the ungrateful,

Or praise our betters – wishing, we forget

That anything we own is nearly cash,

And to have less of it is dead loss,

That unshared cigarettes are smoke and ash,

That praise is gross.

Not giving should be not living; how to live,

How to deal with any wish to give

When the gift gets stuck to the fingers?

We give nothing we have,

So smiling at strangers

Best suits our book – they cannot tell

Our own from others’ words; generous

With common property we seem amiable;

Not to draw a knife

Looks like an act of kindness,

And is, acted to the life.