In frames as large as rooms that face all ways
And block the ends of streets with giant loaves,
Screen graves with custard, cover slums with praise
Of motor-oil and cuts of salmon, shine
Perpetually these sharply-pictured groves
Of how life should be. High above the gutter
A silver knife sinks into golden butter,
A glass of milk stands in a meadow, and
Well-balanced families, in fine
Midsummer weather, owe their smiles, their cars,
Even their youth, to that small cube each hand
Stretches towards. These, and the deep armchairs
Aligned to cups at bedtime, radiant bars
(Gas or electric), quarter-profile cats
By slippers on warm mats,
Reflect none of the rained-on streets and squares
They dominate outdoors. Rather, they rise
Serenely to proclaim pure crust, pure foam,
Pure coldness to our live imperfect eyes
That stare beyond this world, where nothing’s made
As new or washed quite clean, seeking the home
All such inhabit. There, dark raftered pubs
Are filled with white-clothed ones from tennis-clubs,
And the boy puking his heart out in the Gents
Just missed them, as the pensioner paid
A halfpenny more for Granny Graveclothes’ Tea
To taste old age, and dying smokers sense
Walking towards them through some dappled park
As if on water that unfocused she
No match lit up, nor drag ever brought near,
Who now stands newly clear,
Smiling, and recognising, and going dark.
End of the poem
15 random poems
- AN INSPIRATIONAL VILLANELLE: by Manish Thakur
- By the Spring, at Sunset by Vachel Lindsay
- Владимир Соловьев – Знамение
- A Song of Enchantment by Walter de la Mare
- Владимир Британишский – Гердер в Риге
- Robert Burns: The Kirk Of Scotland’s Alarm:
- Once Was A Singer For God Remembering Nekia
- Atavism
- In Memory Of Eva Gore-Booth And Con Markiewicz by William Butler Yeats
- Independence poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- Dinner Date by P.J.Reed
- София Парнок – Об одной лошаденке чалой
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Evasion. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- Captivity poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Cold Heaven by William Butler Yeats
Some external links:
Duckduckgo.com – the alternative in the US
Quant.com – a search engine from France, and also an alternative, at least for Europe
Yandex – the Russian search engine (it’s probably the best search engine for image searches).
Philip Arthur Larkin (1922-1985), Commander of the Order of the British Empire, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Cavalier of the Order of the Companions of Honour, was an English poet, novelist, and librarian.