Soil
Roger McGough 1937 (Litherland)
we've ignored eachother for a long time
and I'm strictly an indoor man
anytime to call would be the wrong time
I'll avoid you as long as I can
When I was a boy we were good friends
I made pies out of you when you were wet
And in childhood's remembered summer weather
We roughandtumbled together
We were very close
just you and me and the sun
the world a place for having fun
always so much to be done
But gradually I grew away from you
Of course you were still there
During my earliest sexcapades
When I roughandfumbled
Not very well after bedtime
But suddenly it was winter
And you seemed so cold and dirty
That I stayed indoors and acquired
A taste for girls and clean clothes
we found less and less to say
you were jealous so one day
I simply upped and moved away
I still called to see you on occasions
But we had little now in common
And my visits grew less frequent
Until finally
One coldbright April morning
A handful of you drummed
On my fathers waxworked coffin
at last it all made sense
there was no need for pretence
you said nothing in defence
And now recently
While travelling from town to town
Past where you live
I have become increasingly aware
Of you watching me out there.
Patient and unforgiving
Toying with the trees.
we've avoided eachother for a long time
and I'm strictly a city man
anytime to call would be the wrong time
I'll avoid you as long as I can
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Submitted by RobertHaigh on July 27, 2020
Modified by RobertHaigh on July 27, 2020
- 1:21 min read
- 102 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | abAB cdeex fff xgcdaehxx iii xfxhjxx kck hxxggjx abAB |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,332 |
Words | 264 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 5, 3, 9, 3, 7, 3, 7, 4 |
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"Soil" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/54521/soil>.
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