A Childhood Holiday in Amsterdam

In Amsterdam the clocks chime
And cracks appear in the daylight
It is God smiling, Mother says
But then realpolitik storms in
And we lose all feeling
Emotions abandoned and we are all
Duped by scientists, by technocrats,
By bureaucrats. Monstrous
And Machiavellian and I am the one
Who tries to retain some kind
Of purity of mind but I agonise
All day, all night, pondering
The possibility of God's existence.