The City Poem by Ananta Madhavan

The City shapes obedience.
No one planned it so, but it was there,
An essential design, implicit in men,
Whose merchandise is loyalty and love.
The Guildhall is a monument to the
Arbiters of many lives. That they
Were made possible, not by munificence
But by lucre, is no bar to our
Civic address to the City Fathers.

If you would point to the brood of
Ragged beggars in the slums, I would reply
That the poor would rather live than die.
They have now a chance to praise the
Great men who are institutions in themselves.

In the square the fountains continue to spout
Patterns of liquid grace. Art is not
Clockwork, yet by clockwork Art survives.
In the atelier the painter would have
Thrown off the mottled smock and palette knife,
But for the dealer's enterprise. Genius
Would not be hailed as such,
If they had not thought of limiting
Liability. Therefore do I say,
The City shapes obedience.