Loneliness
by John Betjeman
The last year’s leaves are on the beech:The twigs are black; the cold is dry;
To deeps beyond the deepest reach
The Easter bells enlarge the sky.
O ordered metal clatter-clang!
Is yours the song the angels sang?
You fill my heart with joy and grief -
Belief! Belief! And unbelief...
And, though you tell me I shall die,
You say not how or when or why.
Indifferent the finches sing,
Unheeding roll the lorries past:
What misery will this year bring
Now spring is in the air at last?
For, sure as blackthorn bursts to snow,
Cancer in some of us will grow,
The tasteful crematorium door
Shuts out for some the furnace roar;
But church-bells open on the blast
Our loneliness, so long and vast.
John Betjeman (28 August 1906 – 19 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society, first president of The Hackney Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, helping to save St Pancras railway station from demolition. He began his career as a journalist and ended it as one of the most popular British Poets Laureate and a much-loved figure on British television.
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| Statue of Betjeman at St. Pancras Station, where the Eurostar to Paris departs. |
Happy Easter, Ishmaelites everywhere.
9 comments:
Happy Easter to you mrs I.
Thank you, mr inmate, and the same to you.
happy easter, mrs ishmael and mr inmate - and easter greetings also to all who gather here in the name of the late great sage, mr ishmael.
in breaking news, st nigel of clacton-on-sea reports that our lady loose lips connolly has risen again, and that brother elon has begun the forty day countdown to her lift-off from cape canaveral.
And a Happy Easter to you, too, mr ultrapox!
Best wishes to all.
And to you, too, mr mike.
I hope everybody has had a peaceful Easter.
Thanks for the Betjeman. Belated Easter greetings to all - though it’s Orthodox Easter now, so technically still in time.
A very belated Happy Easter, though as mr bill reminds us, it was Orthodox Easter yesterday and to celebrate it I listened to some quite extraordinary Bulgarian chant - presumably not Gregorian but also not Plain. I do not often go to church, but if they sang things like that I would be there all the time.
I am extra fond of Betjeman because apart from St Pancras he saved a church near where I used to live from being converted into shops.
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