Cost Accounting - Bruce Dawe

Matthew 25:6-13

The human heart, as Pascal said, confounds
         reason’s accountancy…
How often, with suppressed dismay,
        we happen to see
some deed quite disproportionate to
         our sense of cost,
--such generosity of giving that
         All sense seems lost:
the woman at Bethany with the alabaster box
         of rich perfume
pouring it on the Saviour’s head and feet
         while, in the same room,
His disciples are muttering at the waste
         and (frowningly) deplore
when such a precious ointment, sold instead,
         might feed the poor …?
The Gospels surely are the greatest
         of all true romance,
where we encounter the ultimate proof (if proof we need)
         Of Love’s extravagance.