What is it you remember? - the summer mornings
Down by the river at Richmond with a girl,
And as you kissed, clumsy in bathing costumes,
History guffawed in a rosebush. What a warning -
If only we had known, if only we had known!
And when you looked in mirrors was this meaning
Plain as the pain in the centre of a pearl?
Horrible tomorrow in Teutonic postures
Making absurd the past we cannot disown?
Whenever we kissed we cocked the future's rifles
And from our wild-oat words, like dragon's teeth,
Death underfoot now arises; when we were gay
Dancing together in what we hoped was life,
Who was it in our arms but the whores of death
Whom we have found in our beds today, today?
Leave a guest comment (subject to review)
Comments
-
He is talking about Richmond Surrey, England. It was written in 1941 and hense is about the second world war.
Andrew
Edited on Jul 25, 7:03 p.m. because ''. -
Hmmh and this is the first time that I read him but it was indeed very interesting and I wonder is he talking about Richmond, Virginia or another one and I also wonder too if this was about the Civil War perhaps or some other.
-
George Barker has an amazing and unusual way with words, it is easy to see from this piece why Yeats, Eliot and Thomas all held him in high regard.
He has an intensity in his phrases which are passed onto the reader in a relaxed and subtle mannor.
History guffawed in a rosebush. What a warning -
If only we had known, if only we had known!
Andrew
Edited on Jul 25, 6:56 p.m. because ''.
Adding your comment:
