Arriving for his father’s funeral hatless <br />Edward landed, looking far from square, <br />said Betjeman. Though I am rarely catless, <br />my head, like Edward’s, is quite often bare. <br />My eyes, like his, are blue, and I’ve not doubted <br />that old men, cheating, often sit and stare, <br />while wondering who’s the next man to be outed <br />for landing landed hatless from the hostile air. <br />I have no red mahogany book-cases, <br />and Bible texts are often my main fare, <br />but with my trouser bottoms rolled, no laces <br />adorn the shoes that, hatless, I must wear. <br /> <br />Inspired by “Death of King George V” by John Betjeman, which I found on the blog of Ken Drive, who has blogged a number of my poems: <br /> <br />DEATH OF KING GEORGE V <br />('New King arrives in his capital by air' Daily Newspaper) <br />Spirit of well-shot woodcock, partridge, snipe <br />Flutter and bear him up the Norfolk sky: <br />In that red house in a red mahogany book-case <br />The stamp collection waits with mounts long dry. <br />The big blue eyes are shut which saw wrong clothing <br />And favourite fields and coverts from a horse; <br />Old men in country houses hear clocks ticking <br />Over thick carpets with a deadened force; <br />Old men who never cheated, never doubted, <br />Communicated monthly, sit and stare <br />At the new suburb stretched beyond the runway <br />Where a young man lands hatless from the air. <br /> <br />2/21/08<br /><br />gershon hepner<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hatless/
