The Hon. Sec. poem – John Betjeman poems

The flag that hung half-mast today

Seemed animate with being

As if it knew for who it flew

And will no more be seeing.

He loved each corner of the links-

The stream at the eleventh,

The grey-green bents, the pale sea-pinks,

The prospect from the seventh;

To the ninth tee the uphill climb,

A grass and sandy stairway,

And at the top the scent of thyme

And long extent of fairway.

He knew how on a summer day

The sea’s deep blue grew deeper,

How evening shadows over Bray

Made that round hill look steeper.

He knew the ocean mists that rose

And seemed for ever staying,

When moaned the foghorn from Trevose

And nobody was playing;

The flip of cards on winter eves,

The whisky and the scoring,

As trees outside were stripped of leaves

And heavy seas were roaring.

He died when early April light

Showed red his garden sally

And under pale green spears glowed white

His lillies of the valley;

The garden where he used to stand

And where the robin waited

To fly and perch upon his hand

And feed till it was sated.

The Times would never have the space

For Ned’s discreet achievements;

The public prints are not the place

For intimate bereavements.

A gentle guest, a willing host,

Affection deeply planted –

It’s strange that those we miss the most

Are those we take for granted.

 

***

 

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