Heads in the Women's Ward On pillow after pillow lies The wild white hair and staring eyes; Jaws stand open; necks are stretched With every tendon sharply sketched; A bearded mouth talks silently To someone no one else can see. Sixty years ago they smiled At lover, husband, first-born child. Smiles are for youth. For old age come Death's terror and delirium.
Philip LarkinIt becomes still more difficult to findโจWords at once true and kind,โจOr not untrue and not unkind.
Philip LarkinAs a child, I thought I hated everybody, but when I grew up I realized it was just children I didn't like.
Philip LarkinSexual intercourse began in 1963 ... / Between the end of the Chatterley ban/ and the Beatles first LP
Philip LarkinHere silence stands Like heat. Here leaves unnoticed thicken, Hidden weeds flower, neglected waters quicken, Luminously-peopled air ascends; And past the poppies bluish neutral distance Ends the land suddenly beyond a beach Of shapes and shingle. Here is unfenced existence: Facing the sun, untalkative, out of reach.
Philip Larkin