Myfanwy poem – John Betjeman poems

Kind o’er the kinderbank leans my Myfanwy,

White o’er the playpen the sheen of her dress,

Fresh from the bathroom and soft in the nursery

Soap scented fingers I long to caress.

Were you a prefect and head of your dormit’ry?

Were you a hockey girl, tennis or gym?

Who was your favourite? Who had a crush on you?

Which were the baths where they taught you to swim?

Smooth down the Avenue glitters the bicycle,

Black-stockinged legs under navy blue serge,

Home and Colonial, Star, International,

Balancing bicycle leant on the verge.

Trace me your wheel-tracks, you fortunate bicycle,

Out of the shopping and into the dark,

Back down the avenue, back to the pottingshed,

Back to the house on the fringe of the park.

Golden the light on the locks of Myfanwy,

Golden the light on the book on her knee,

Finger marked pages of Rackham’s Hans Anderson,

Time for the children to come down to tea.

Oh! Fullers angel-cake, Robertson’s marmalade,

Liberty lampshade, come shine on us all,

My! what a spread for the friends of Myfanwy,

Some in the alcove and some in the hall.

Then what sardines in half-lighted passages!

Locking of fingers in long hide-and-seek.

You will protect me, my silken Myfanwy,

Ring leader, tom-boy, and chum to the weak.

 

***

 

More poems by John Betjeman:

• Winter Seascape poem – John Betjeman poems
• Winter Landscape poem – John Betjeman poems
• Westgate-On-Sea poem – John Betjeman poems
• Verses Turned… poem – John Betjeman poems
• Upper Lambourne poem – John Betjeman poems
• Trebetherick poem – John Betjeman poems
• The Plantster’s Vision poem – John Betjeman poems
• The Olympic Girl poem – John Betjeman poems
• The Licorice Fields at Pontefract poem – John Betjeman poems
• The Last Laugh poem – John Betjeman poems
• The Irish Unionist’s farewell to Greta Hellastrom in 1922 poem – John Betjeman poems
• The Hon. Sec. poem – John Betjeman poems
• The Cottage Hospital poem – John Betjeman poems
• Sun and Fun poem – John Betjeman poems
• South London Sketch poem – John Betjeman poems
• Slough poem – John Betjeman poems
• Senex poem – John Betjeman poems
• Seaside Golf poem – John Betjeman poems
• On a Portrait of a Deaf Man poem – John Betjeman poems
• Myfanwy poem – John Betjeman poems
• Mortality poem – John Betjeman poems
• Middlesex poem – John Betjeman poems
• Meditation on the A30 poem – John Betjeman poems
• Loneliness poem – John Betjeman poems
• Ireland With Emily poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• Inexpensive Progress poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• In Westminster Abbey poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• How To Get On In Society poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• Harrow-on-the-Hill poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• Guilt poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• Felixstowe, or The Last of Her Order poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• Executive poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• Dilton Marsh Halt poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• Diary of a Church Mouse poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• Devonshire Street W.1 poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• Death In Leamington poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• Dawlish poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• Cornish Cliffs poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• Christmas poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• Business Girls poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• Back From Australia poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• An Edwardian Sunday, Broomhill, Sheffield poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• A Subaltern’s Love Song poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• A Shropshire Lad poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
• A Bay In Anglesey poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry