This Be The Verse

Philip Larkin

• They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
• They may not mean to, but they do.
• They fill you with the faults they had

• And add some extra, just for you.

• But they were fucked up in their turn
• By fools in old-style hats and coats,
• Who half the time were soppy-stern

• And half at one another’s throats.

• Man hands on misery to man.
• It deepens like a coastal shelf.
• Get out as early as you can,
• And don’t have any kids yourself.