Innocence is no earthly weapon

OVID IN THE THIRD REICH

Geoffrey Hill

non peccat, quaecumque potest peccasse negare,

solaque famosam culpa professa facit.

—(Amores, III, xiv)

I love my work and my children. God

Is distant, difficult. Things happen.

Too near the ancient troughs of blood

Innocence is no earthly weapon.

I have learned one thing: not to look down

So much on the damned. They, in their sphere,

Harmonize strangely with the divine

Love. I, in mine, celebrate the love-choir.

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