Philip Larkin - This Be the Verse

This Be The Verse

Philip Larkin

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.

They may not mean to, but they do.

They fill you with the faults they had

And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn

By fools in old-style hats and coats,

Who half the time were soppy-stern

And half at one another's throats.

Man hands on misery to man.

It deepens like a coastal shelf.

Get out as early as you can,

And don't have any kids yourself

The Mother

Gwendolyn Brooks

Abortions will not let you forget.

You remember the children you got that you did not get,

The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair,

The singers and workers that never handled the air.

You will never neglect or beat

Them, or silence or buy with a sweet.

You will never wind up the sucking-thumb

Or scuttle off ghosts that come.

You will never leave them, controlling your luscious sigh,

Return for a snack of them, with gobbling mother-eye.

I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed

children.

I have contracted. I have eased

My dim dears at the breasts they could never suck.

I have said, Sweets, if I sinned, if I seized

Your luck

And your lives from your unfinished reach,

If I stole your births and your names,

Your straight baby tears and your games,

Your stilted or lovely loves, your tumults, your marriages, aches,

and your deaths,

If I poisoned the beginnings of your breaths,

Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate.

Though why should I whine,

Whine that the crime was other than mine?--

Since anyhow you are dead.

Or rather, or instead,

You were never made.

But that too, I am afraid,

Is faulty: oh, what shall I say, how is the truth to be said?

You were born, you had body, you died.

It is just that you never giggled or planned or cried.

Believe me, I loved you all.

Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you

All.

Mother to Son

Langston Hughes

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

Daddy

Sylvia Plath

You do not do, you do not do

Any more, black shoe

In which I have lived like a foot

For thirty years, poor and white,

Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.

Daddy, I have had to kill you.

You died before I had time--

Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,

Ghastly statue with one gray toe

Big as a Frisco seal

And a head in the freakish Atlantic

Where it pours bean green over blue

In the waters off beautiful Nauset.

I used to pray to recover you.

Ach, du.

In the German tongue, in the Polish town

Scraped flat by the roller

Of wars, wars, wars.

But the name of the town is common.

My Polack friend

Says there are a dozen or two.

So I never could tell where you

Put your foot, your root,

I never could talk to you.

The tongue stuck in my jaw.

It stuck in a barb wire snare.

Ich, ich, ich, ich,

I could hardly speak.

I thought every German was you.

And the language obscene

An engine, an engine

Chuffing me off like a Jew.

A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.

I began to talk like a Jew.

I think I may well be a Jew.

The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna

Are not very pure or true.

With my gipsy ancestress and my weird luck

And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack

I may be a bit of a Jew.

I have always been scared of you,

With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.

And your neat mustache

And your Aryan eye, bright blue.

Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You--

Not God but a swastika

So black no sky could squeak through.

Every woman adores a Fascist,

The boot in the face, the brute

Brute heart of a brute like you.

You stand at the blackboard, daddy,

In the picture I have of you,

A cleft in your chin instead of your foot

But no less a devil for that, no not

Any less the black man who

Bit my pretty red heart in two.

I was ten when they buried you.

At twenty I tried to die

And get back, back, back to you.

I thought even the bones would do.

But they pulled me out of the sack,

And they stuck me together with glue.

And then I knew what to do.

I made a model of you,

A man in black with a Meinkampf look

And a love of the rack and the screw.

And I said I do, I do.

So daddy, I'm finally through.

The black telephone's off at the root,

The voices just can't worm through.

If I've killed one man, I've killed two--

The vampire who said he was you

And drank my blood for a year,

Seven years, if you want to know.

Daddy, you can lie back now.

There's a stake in your fat black heart

And the villagers never liked you.

They are dancing and stamping on you.

They always knew it was you.

Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through.

“Family Portrait”

Alecia Moore (aka Pink)

Momma please stop cryin, I can't stand the sound

Your pain is painful and its tearin' me down

I hear glasses breakin as I sit up in my bed

I told dad you didn't mean those nasty things you said

You fight about money, bout me and my brother

And this I come home to, this is my shelter

It ain't easy growin up in World War III

Never knowin what love could be, you'll see

I don't want love to destroy me like it has done my family

Can we work it out? Can we be a family?

I promise I'll be better, Mommy I'll do anything

Can we work it out? Can we be a family?

I promise I'll be better, Daddy please don'tleave

Daddy please stop yellin, I can't stand the sound

Make mama stop cryin, cuz I need you around

My mama she loves you, no matter what she says its true

I know that she hurts you, but remember I love you, too

I ran away today, ran from the noise, ran away

Don't wanna go back to that place, but don't have no choice, no way

It ain't easy growin up in World War III

Never knowin what love could be, well I've seen

I don't want love to destroy me like it did my family

Can we work it out? Can we be a family?

I promise I'll be better, Mommy I'll do anything

Can we work it out? Can we be a family?

I promise I'll be better, Daddy please don't leave

In our family portrait, we look pretty happy

Let's play pretend, let's act like it comes naturally

I don't wanna have to split the holidays

I don't want two addresses

I don't want a step-brother anyways

And I don't want my mom to have to change her last name

In our family portrait we look pretty happy

We look pretty normal, let's go back to that

In our family portrait we look pretty happy

Let's play pretend, act like it goes naturally

In our family portrait we look pretty happy

(Can we work it out? Can we be a family?)

We look pretty normal, let's go back to that

(I promise I'll be better, Mommy I'll do anything)

In our family portrait we look pretty happy

(Can we work it out? Can we be a family?)

Let's play pretend act and like it comes so naturally

(I promise I'll be better, Daddy please don't leave)

In our family portrait we look pretty happy

(Can we work it out? Can we be a family?)

We look pretty normal, let's go back to that

(I promise I'll be better, Daddy please don't leave)

Daddy don't leave

Turn around please

Remember that the night you left you took my shining star?

Daddy don't leave

Don't leave us here alone

Mom will be nicer

I'll be so much better, I'll tell my brother

Oh, I won't spill the milk at dinner

I'll be so much better, I'll do everything right

I'll be your little girl forever

I'll go to sleep at night

Mother

John Lennon

Mother, you had me but I never had you,

I wanted you but you didn't want me,

So I got to tell you,

Goodbye, goodbye.

Farther, you left me but I never left you,

I needed you but you didn't need me,

So I got to tell you,

Goodbye, goodbye.

Children, don't do what I have done,

I couldn't walk and I tried to run,

So I got to tell you,

Goodbye, goodbye.

Mama don't go,

Daddy come home.

Mama don't go,

Daddy come home.

Mama don't go,

Daddy come home.

Mama don't go,

Daddy come home.

Mama don't go,

Daddy come home.

Mama don't go,

Daddy come home.

Mama don't go,

Daddy come home

Winter

Tori Amos

Snow can wait

I forgot my mittens

Wipe my nose

Get my new boots on

I get a little warm in my heart

When I think of winter

I put my hand in my father's glove

I run off

Where the drifts get deeper

Sleeping beauty trips me with a frown

I hear a voice

"Your must learn to stand up for yourself

Cause I can't always be around"

He says:

When you gonna make up your mind?

When you gonna love you as much as I do?

When you gonna make up your mind?

Cause things are gonna change so fast

All the white horses are still in bed

I tell you that I'll always want you near

You say that things change my dear

Boys get discovered as winter melts

Flowers competing for the sun

Years go by and I'm here still waiting

Withering where some snowman was

Mirror mirror where's the crystal palace

But I only can see the myself

Skating around the truth who I am

But I know dad the ice is getting thin

When you gonna make up your mind?

When you gonna love you as much as I do?

When you gonna make up your mind?

Cause things are gonna change so fast

All the white horses are still in bed

I tell you that I'll always want you near

You say that things change my dear

Hair is grey

And the fires are burning

So many dreams

On the shelf

You say I wanted you to be proud of me

I always wanted that myself

He says:

When you gonna make up your mind?

When you gonna love you as much as I do?

When you gonna make up your mind?

Cause things are gonna change so fast

All the white horses have gone ahead

I tell you that I'll always want you near

You say that things change

My dear

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Come gather 'round people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters

Around you have grown

And accept it that soon

You'll be drenched to the bone.

If your time to you

Is worth savin'

Then you better start swimmin'

Or you'll sink like a stone

For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics

Who prophesize with your pen

And keep your eyes wide

The chance won't come again

And don't speak too soon

For the wheel's still in spin

And there's no tellin' who

That it's namin'.

For the loser now

Will be later to win

For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen

Please heed the call

Don't stand in the doorway

Don't block up the hall

For he that gets hurt

Will be he who has stalled

There's a battle outside

And it is ragin'.

It'll soon shake your windows

And rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers

Throughout the land

And don't criticize

What you can't understand

Your sons and your daughters

Are beyond your command

Your old road is

Rapidly agin'.

Please get out of the new one

If you can't lend your hand

For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn

The curse it is cast

The slow one now

Will later be fast

As the present now

Will later be past

The order is

Rapidly fadin'.

And the first one now

Will later be last

For the times they are a-changin'.

Father & Son

Father

Its not time to make a change,

Just relax, take it easy.

Youre still young, thats your fault,

Theres so much you have to know.

Find a girl, settle down,

If you want you can marry.

Look at me, I am old, but Im happy.

I was once like you are now, and I know that its not easy,

To be calm when youve found something going on.

But take your time, think a lot,

Why, think of everything youve got.

For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not.

Son

How can I try to explain, when I do he turns away again.

Its always been the same, same old story.

From the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen.

Now theres a way and I know that I have to go away.

I know I have to go.

Father

Its not time to make a change,

Just sit down, take it slowly.

Youre still young, thats your fault,

Theres so much you have to go through.

Find a girl, settle down,

If you want you can marry.

Look at me, I am old, but Im happy.

(son-- away away away, I know I have to

Make this decision alone - no)

Son

All the times that I cried, keeping all the things I knew inside,

Its hard, but its harder to ignore it.

If they were right, Id agree, but its them you know not me.

Now theres a way and I know that I have to go away.

I know I have to go.

(father-- stay stay stay, why must you go and

Make this decision alone? )

My Back Pages

Crimson flames tied through my ears

Rollin' high and mighty traps

Pounced with fire on flaming roads

Using ideas as my maps

"We'll meet on edges, soon," said I

Proud 'neath heated brow.

Ah, but I was so much older then,

I'm younger than that now.

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth

"Rip down all hate," I screamed

Lies that life is black and white

Spoke from my skull. I dreamed

Romantic facts of musketeers

Foundationed deep, somehow.

Ah, but I was so much older then,

I'm younger than that now.

Girls' faces formed the forward path

From phony jealousy

To memorizing politics

Of ancient history

Flung down by corpse evangelists

Unthought of, though, somehow.

Ah, but I was so much older then,

I'm younger than that now.

A self-ordained professor's tongue

Too serious to fool

Spouted out that liberty

Is just equality in school

"Equality," I spoke the word

As if a wedding vow.

Ah, but I was so much older then,

I'm younger than that now.

In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand

At the mongrel dogs who teach

Fearing not that I'd become my enemy

In the instant that I preach

My pathway led by confusion boats

Mutiny from stern to bow.

Ah, but I was so much older then,

I'm younger than that now.

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats

Too noble to neglect

Deceived me into thinking

I had something to protect

Good and bad, I define these terms

Quite clear, no doubt, somehow.

Ah, but I was so much older then,

I'm younger than that now.

Poetry, etc 1