Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, POST OFFICE ETCHINGS: 1. PADDINGTON STATION, by AUSTIN PHILIPS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

POST OFFICE ETCHINGS: 1. PADDINGTON STATION, by                    
First Line: A boy (scarce seventeen
Last Line: Burnt offering of a fool's impetuosity.
Subject(s): Boys; Children; Etching; Childhood


A BOY (scarce seventeen,
Eager, alert, alive,
Ardent and sensitive)
Leaps from his crowded train,
And for a space in vain
Searches the station scene:
Then, sudden, sees
Him he was bidden to meet—
Bearded, impatient and authoritative—
Flash forward, foolish-fleet ...
Gives greeting. On his ears
Fall words too stark for tears:
Words which strike chill—nay, freeze:
Words which may doom his soul to spiritual death,
So long as he draw breath.

"I bade" (thus rang the knell
Which tolled my heart towards Hell),
"You meet me here to-day
Because I have to say
A child is on the way"—
(The sixth!) "Your time for play
Is ended. You must learn
To be a man and earn
Your living. I will find
Something appropriate ...
Indeed I have in mind
A chance which harbours great,
And almost infinite, possibilities ...
Go Home, now, at your ease,
And, when you reach there, please
Watch that no wanton puerilities
Worsen your mother's state!"
With that, the father turned
And went. The stricken son,
Whose whole bright being burned
With love for Light and Learning, stood there 'wildered, numb,
Disorientated, dumb,
Sensing himself undone;
Then, prompt to play the man,
Saw his twin boxes taken from the van,
Hailed the first hansom, drove adown the drear
Streets to Disaster which he knew so near ...
Filled with foreboding pain,
Took slow suburban train
To that unhappy, restless Blackheath home ...
Feeling the future desolate and dim,
Fearful of things to come,
Conscious of Fate's fell fingers closing round on him:
Him, helpless, luckless victim, born to be
Burnt offering of a fool's impetuosity.





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