P. U. Smellyfoot was not a bad man.
Under the circumstances, he was good.
Smellyfoot, a family name, in some ways
masterfully described a condition
every doctor observes as athlete's foot,
little did that perturb the great poet,
little did anyone know his real name,
yes, he was famous, most famous of all,
famous for nothing more than changing faiths,
of God and country, he took no issue,
only, as an Anglican in England,
this great poet, Thomas Stearns Eliot,
welcomed a sort of notoriety,
as a well-intentioned anti-semite,
simple as it was during World War I,
no one would notice one man in bad faith,
only, he kept friends in his company
that were more vocal than simply subtle,
as a Christian, to openly hate Jews
before God was like drinking before noon,
as a blue blood, it just wasn't polite,
despite the allegations in his verse,
monsters belong to a greater system,
as individuals, no one does wrong,
no one gets caught red-handed with the knife.
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