Charity

A notion slaughtered

Severing connection

To the gift

No goodwill exists

In a wolf that dines

In sheep’s clothing

Recognisable in gesture

A purpose to be seen

Disingenuous disguise

Nobility is tied

To invisible strings

When iniquity funds

There is no charity at all 

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in RISE, Camille’s second contemporary poetry collection. Charity explores the corruption of giving when it is emptied of sincerity — exposing how power can disguise self-interest as virtue, and how generosity without integrity ceases to be generosity at all.