John Betjeman Poems
- 1. Trebetherick
We used to picnic where the thrift
Grew deep and tufted to the edge;
We saw the yellow foam flakes drift
In trembling sponges on the ledge
... - 2. The Plantster's Vision
Cut down that timber! Bells, too many and strong,
Pouring their music through the branches bare,
From moon-white church towers down the windy air
Have pealed the centuries out with Evensong.
... - 3. The Last Laugh
I made hay while the sun shone.
My work sold.
Now, if the harvest is over
And the world cold,
... - 4. Slough
Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!
... - 5. Myfanwy
Kind o'er the kinderbank leans my Myfanwy,
White o'er the playpen the sheen of her dress,
Fresh from the bathroom and soft in the nursery
Soap scented fingers I long to caress.
... - 6. In A Bath Teashop
“Let us not speak, for the love we bear one another-
Let us hold hands and look.”
She such a very ordinary little woman;
He such a thumping crook;
... - 7. Devonshire Street W.1
The heavy mahogany door with its wrought-iron screen
Shuts. And the sound is rich, sympathetic, discreet.
The sun still shines on this eighteenth-century scene
With Edwardian faience adornment-Devonshire Street.
...
