Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.

Oh Wasn't it naughty of Smudges? Oh, Mummy, I'm sick with disgust. She threww me in front of the judges, And my silly old collar-bone's bust.

Topography is one of my chief themes in my poetry, about the country, the suburbs and the seaside. Then there comes love... and increasingly; the fear of death.

Too many people in the modern world view poetry as a luxury, not a necessity like petrol. But to me it's the oil of life.

And I think it was the outline of that church tower at Belaugh against the sky which gave me a passion for churches so that every church I've past since I've wanted to stop and look in.

And now, dear Lord, I cannot wait Because I have a luncheon date.

I don't think I am any good. If I thought I was any good, I wouldn't be.