Standing under the fobbed <br />Impendent belly of Time <br />Tell me the truth, I said, <br />Teach me the way things go. <br />All the other lads there <br />Were itching to have a bash, <br />But I thought wanting unfair: <br />It and finding out clash. <br /> <br />So he patted my head, booming Boy, <br />There's no green in your eye: <br />Sit here and watch the hail <br />Of occurence clobber life out <br />To a shape no one sees - <br />Dare you look at that straight? <br />Oh thank you, I said, Oh yes please, <br />And sat down to wait. <br /> <br />Half life is over now, <br />And I meet full face on dark mornings <br />The bestial visor, bent in <br />By the blows of what happened to happen. <br />What does it prove? Sod all. <br />In this way I spent youth, <br />Tracing the trite untransferable <br />Truss-advertisement, truth.<br /><br />Philip Larkin<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/send-no-money/
