Marrying left yor maiden name disused.
Its five light sounds no longer mean your face,
Your voice, and all your variants of grace;
For since you were so thankfully confused
By law with someone else, you cannot be
Semantically the same as that young beauty:
It was of her that these two words were used.
Now it’s a phrase applicable to no one,
Lying just where you left it, scattered through
Old lists, old programmes, a school prize or two,
Packets of letters tied with tartan ribbon –
Then is it secentless, weightless, strengthless wholly
Untruthful? Try whispering it slowly.
No, it means you. Or, since your past and gone,
It means what we feel now about you then:
How beautiful you were, and near, and young,
So vivid, you might still be there among
Those first few days, unfingermarked again.
So your old name shelters our faithfulness,
Instead of losing shape and meaning less
With your depreciating luggage laiden.
(Philip Larkin)
More Poetry from Philip Larkin:
Philip Larkin Poems based on Topics: Faces, Youth, Education, Beauty, Letters- Vers De Soci (Philip Larkin Poems)
- Tr (Philip Larkin Poems)
- Night Music (Philip Larkin Poems)
- When First We Faced (Philip Larkin Poems)
- As Bad as a Mile (Philip Larkin Poems)
- Library Ode (Philip Larkin Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Faces Poems, Youth Poems, Beauty Poems, Education Poems, Letters PoemsBased on Keywords: lists, marrying, shelters, thankfully, weightless, yor, luggage, tartan, strengthless, disused, packets
- Vision of War (Lincoln Colcord Poems)
- Songs Of Seven (complete) (Jean Ingelow Poems)
- Devon's Poly-Obion (Joanna Baillie Poems)
- A Confidant Without Knowing It; Or The Stratagem (Jean de La Fontaine Poems)
- Epistle To Earl Harcourt, On His Wishing Her To Spell Her Name With Of Catherine With A K. (Joanna Baillie Poems)