Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, POST OFFICE ETCHINGS: 5. EXPERIENCE, by AUSTIN PHILIPS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

POST OFFICE ETCHINGS: 5. EXPERIENCE, by                    
First Line: Grateful the liquid, which I swiftly swallow
Last Line: Killed at a moment of great gallantry.
Subject(s): Experience


GRATEFUL the liquid, which I swiftly swallow.
"Time!" shouts the landlord. Out into the street
Exit the author of these etchings with a fellow-
Sorter who insisted he must stand him treat,
Free'd by the authorities, (all-ignorant of pity!)
Forced, for an hour, till chimes of midnight strike,
Unpaid and idle, to walk Leicester city,
Friends in misfortune, tired and bored alike.

Up come two doxies—twins of that profession
Known as 'Earth's Oldest'—anxious to engage
Persons and purses. We resist their pression,
Loud rings the roadway with airy persiflage.
Soon appears a policeman, (he'd been lying perdue!)
Paraphrasing Shakespeare, literary of mind,
"Now, you gentlemen's sons, you maids of easy virtue,
Please to move on!" And we scuttle like the wind.

Beats down the rain, now. Hatless, helter-skelter,
Nowhere else available, we take our wrathful way
Back to the one, the sole existent shelter
Ready to receive us ... but persistent not to pay.
There, as we talk, I find myself discerning
That this my colleague—though, alas! his mind
Lacks the least small modicum of any learning—
Is, in his heart, most generous, most kind.

'Frank' is his name. 'Frank Lapham'. Frank of nature,
No less. Of honour am'rous. Volunteer.
Broad, but not tall—though high of spiritual stature—
He 'listed', later, as an Engineer.
Sought service steadfastly in deed of danger,
Obtained the chance he asked for ... thus to be,
Alike to physical and moral fear a stranger,
Killed at a moment of great gallantry.





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