Matthew VIII,28 ff. in  General   

Rabbi, we Gadarenes
Are not ascetics; we are fond of wealth and possessions.
Love, as You call it, we obviate by means
Of the planned release of aggressions.

We have deep faith in properity.
Soon, it is hoped, we will reach our full potential.
In the light of our gross product, the practice of charity
Is palpably non-essential.

It is true that we go insane;
That for no good reason we are possessed by devils;
That we suffer, despite the amenities which obtain
At all but the lowest levels.

We shall not, however, resign
Our trust in the high-heaped table and the full trough.
If You cannot cure us without destroying our swine,
We had rather You shoved off.

By Richard Wilbur

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Other poems by Richard Wilbur:

• A Fable
• A World Without Objects is a Sensible Emptiness
• Advice to a Prophet
• Boy at the Window
• Epistemology
• Exeunt
• For K.R. on her Sixtieth Birthday
• Having Misidentified A Wildflower
• In a Churchyard
• In the Smoking Car
• Juggler
• June Light
• Love Calls Us To The Things Of This World
• March 26, 1974
• Matthew VIII,28 ff.
• Museum Piece
• Orchard Trees, January
• Parable
• Puritans
• Riddle
• Shame
• The Beautiful Changes
• The Prisoner of Zenda
• The Riddle
• The Ride
• To the Etruscan Poets
• Transit
• Wedding Toast
• Worlds