Monday, February 7, 2011

Poetry Monday

Breadfruit

by Philip Larkin


Boys dream of native girls who bring breadfruit,
                     Whatever they are,
As brides to teach them how to execute
Sixteen sexual positions in the sand;
This makes them join (the boys) the tennis club,
Jive at the Mecca, use deodorants, and
On Saturdays squire ex-schoolgirls to the pub
                     By private car.


Such uncorrected visions end in church
                     Or registrar:
A mortgaged semi- with a silver birch;
Nippers; the widowed mum; having to scheme
With money; illness; age. So absolute
Maturity falls, when old men sit and dream
Of naked native girls who bring breadfruit
                    Whatever they are.

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