He stood; and I suppose he should have touched my heart;
I should have been moved with pity;
With desire to protect, to shield him from destiny:
For he was only a child.
But as he stood, with one leg flexed,
Shuffling; his grimy paws busied in the commerce
Of feeding bananas into his mouth;
His eyes scowling with the malevolence of a small pig's -
I did not like him.
I was quite untouched by his youth,
His necessary innocence.
To me he seemed wholly evil,
Larval, voracious;
Feeble and blank, not innocent:
The young of some horrid beast:
A pulp of potential spite -
And it may be uncharitable
But I think I was right!
NOTE: Humanum genus was a 1884 papal dictat condemning, amongst other things, Freemasonry, individual freedom and the separation of church and state.