'New eyes each year
Find old books here,
And new books, too,
Old eyes renew;
So youth and age
Like ink and page
In this house join,
Minting new coin.'
Philip Larkin
'New eyes each year
Find old books here,
And new books, too,
Old eyes renew;
So youth and age
Like ink and page
In this house join,
Minting new coin.'
Philip Larkin
'In times when nothing stood
but worsened, or grew strange,
there was one constant good:
she did not change.'
1952-1977 by Philip Larkin
'...
Life is an immobile, locked,
Three-handed struggle between
Your wants, the world's for you, and (worse)
The unbeatable slow machine
That brings what you'll get. Blocked,
They strain round a hollow stasis
Of havings-to, fear, faces.
Days sift down it constantly. Years.'
The Life with a Hole in it by Philip Larkin
'...
Life is first boredom, then fear.
Whether or not we use it, it goes
...'
Dockery and Son by Philip Larkin
XXIX
Pour away that youth
That overflows the heart
Into hair and mouth;
Take the grave's part,
Tell the bone's truth.
Throw away that youth
That jewel in the head
That bronze in the breath;
Walk with the dead
For fear of death.
#fREADom #UniteAgainstBookBans
XXI
I dreamed of an out-thrust arm of land
Where gulls blew over a wave
That fell along miles of sand;
And the wind climbed up the caves
To tear at a dark-faced garden
Whose black flowers were dead,
And broke round a house we slept in,
A drawn blind and a bed.
⬇️
X
Within the dream you said:
Let us kiss then,
In this room, in this bed,
But when all's done,
We must not meet again.
Hearing this last word,
There was no lambing-night,
No gale-driven bird
Nor frost-encircled root
As cold as my heart.
Off to whiby for a couple of days break - 1st part of journey was train to hull to meet Alison before we drive up there.
Anyway here is the statue of the great irascible poet who was hull librarian for many years.
Hopefully I'll find a bram stoker plaque to share next.
"Home is so Sad" by Philip Larkin (1922-1985)
#home #PoetryMatters @LazyDays
Saw this sign outside my local library and had to share on Litsy 😀
#librarylove
What do they think has happened, the old fools,
To make them like this? Do they somehow suppose
It's more grown-up when your mouth hangs open and drools,
And you keep pissing on yourself, and can't remember
Who called this morning? Or that, if they only chose,
They could alter things back to when they danced all night,
Or went to their wedding, or sloped arms some September?
New eyes each year
Find old books here,
And new books, too,
Old eyes renew;
So youth and age
Like ink and page
In this house join,
Minting new coin.