Poem by Philip Arthur Larkin

Absences

Rain patters on a sea that tilts and sighs.
Fast-running floors, collapsing into hollows,
Tower suddenly, spray-haired. Contrariwise,
A wave drops like a wall: another follows,
Wilting and scrambling, tirelessly at play
Where there are no ships and no shallows.
​
Above the sea, the yet more shoreless day,
Riddled by wind, trails lit-up galleries:
They shift to giant ribbing, sift away.
​
Such attics cleared of me! Such absences!

1. The Mower
2. Breadfruit
3. Days
4. Homage to a Government
5. To Failure

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