A happy vicar I might have been
Two hundred years ago
To preach upon eternal doom
And watch my walnuts grow;
But born, alas, in an evil time,
I missed that pleasant haven,
For the hair has grown on my upper lip
And the clergy are all clean-shaven.
And later still the times were good,
We were so easy to please,
We rocked our troubled thoughts to sleep
On the bosoms of the trees.
All ignorant we dared to own
The joys we now dissemble;
The greenfinch on the apple bough
Could make my enemies tremble.
But girl’s bellies and apricots,
Roach in a shaded stream,
Horses, ducks in flight at dawn,
All these are a dream.
It is forbidden to dream again;
We maim our joys or hide them:
Horses are made of chromium steel
And little fat men shall ride them.
I am the worm who never turned,
The eunuch without a harem;
Between the priest and the commissar
I walk like Eugene Aram;
And the commissar is telling my fortune
While the radio plays,
But the priest has promised an Austin Seven,
For Duggie always pays.
I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls,
And woke to find it true;
I wasn’t born for an age like this;
Was Smith? Was Jones? Were you?
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=D I've read this poem before... it was in the collection of essays I read by him... I can't remember if it was in "Inside a Whale" or "Why I write"... but he is one of the most brilliant men I've ever encountered in writing. I especially liked the way he addressed how we should write and all the 'eloquentness' of speakers and polititians were just empty words that we should avoid... there were 5 basic rules he came up with... I need to go to the library now and find that book again. Agh... (: Thank you for posting this poem, even though I commented more on the author than his actual poem.
-Miji
Edited on Jun 27, 11:38 because 'Typo'. -
thanx for giving a gud poem a new life.beautiful and true.Its human nature to find fault with the present and true the bygones appear more meaningful.
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This is definately worthy of a read. It has a good rhythm. There are a couple of names mentioned that I am not familiar with, but then, there in lies the lesson. To research who these people are. Outside of that it's easy to understand. Haven't we all felt this way at one time or another? That we should have been born at a different time. Whether that be of the future or the past.
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