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Closed Windows

30/6/2016

3 Comments

 
Closed Windows
(with apologies to Philip Larkin*)
 
              
When I see a couple of oldies
And guess he's a fucking racist and she
Gets her facts from the Daily Mail
I know this is the hell
 
Many of us have dreaded all our lives -
Bonds and kinship pushed to one side
Like an outdated mobile telephone
And everyone young going down the long slide
 
To misery, endlessly.  I wonder if
Anyone looked at me, forty years back,  
And thought,  That'll be no life;
No good any more, sweating for zero
 
Hours, if that, and having less to live  
On than those who came before. Him and her have
Already enjoyed their long slide and then sold
It from under us. And immediately 
 
Rather than words comes the thought of closed windows:
An uncomprehending absence,
And behind it, the dark dank stench, that promises
Nothing, and is everywhere, and is endless.

 
 
(*Although the old bastard would definitely have voted to leave.)



3 Comments
Jonah
30/6/2016 11:08:13 am

Don't put the Smiths on ffs !

Reply
Gary Twynam
30/6/2016 11:44:44 am

To be fair, it was mainly light-hearted,. Here's the original.


High Windows

When I see a couple of kids
And guess he's fucking her and she's
Taking pills or wearing a diaphragm,
I know this is paradise

Everyone old has dreamed of all their lives--
Bonds and gestures pushed to one side
Like an outdated combine harvester,
And everyone young going down the long slide

To happiness, endlessly. I wonder if
Anyone looked at me, forty years back,
And thought, That'll be the life;
No God any more, or sweating in the dark

About hell and that, or having to hide
What you think of the priest. He
And his lot will all go down the long slide
Like free bloody birds. And immediately

Rather than words comes the thought of high windows:
The sun-comprehending glass,
And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows
Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.


Philip Larkin 1967

Reply
Jonah
30/6/2016 03:44:52 pm

I'll get me coat .

Reply

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