ΦΙΛΙΠ ΛΑΡΚΙΝ

PHILIP LARKIN

TO FAILURE

You do not come dramatically, with dragons

That rear up with my life between their paws

And dash me butchered down beside the wagons,

The horses panicking; nor as a clause

Clearly set out to warn what can be lost,

What out-of-pocket charges must be borne

Expenses met; nor as a draughty ghost

That's seen, some mornings, running down a lawn.

It is these sunless afternoons, I find

Install you at my elbow like a bore.

The chestnut trees are caked with silence. I'm

Aware the days pass quicker than before,

Smell staler too. And once they fall behind

They look like ruin. You have been here some time.