The072 poems v2

MAYOR OF LONDON tfl.gov.uk/poems Transport for London

Poems on the Underground: A New Edition (Particular Books/Penguin 2012)

Two Fragments

Love holds me captive againand I tremble with bittersweet longing

As a gale on the mountainside bends the oak treeI am rocked by my love

SapphoTranslated by Cicely Herbert. Reprinted by the permission of the translator

MAYOR OF LONDON tfl.gov.uk/poems Transport for London

Poems on the Underground: A New Edition (Particular Books/Penguin 2012)

Andrew SalkeyReprinted by permission of Patricia Salkey

A song for EnglandAn’ a so de rain a-fallAn’ a so de snow a-rain

An’ a so de fog a-fallAn’ a so de sun a-fail

An’ a so de seasons mixAn’ a so de bag-o’-tricks

But a so me understan’De misery o’ de Englishman.

MAYOR OF LONDON tfl.gov.uk/poems Transport for London

Poems on the Underground: A New Edition (Particular Books/Penguin 2012)

Rudyard Kipling

A Dead StatesmanI could not dig: I dared not rob:Therefore I lied to please the mob.Now all my lies are proved untrueAnd I must face the men I slew.What tale shall serve me here amongMine angry and defrauded young? from Epitaphs of the War 1914-18

MAYOR OF LONDON tfl.gov.uk/poems Transport for London

Poems on the Underground: A New Edition (Particular Books/Penguin 2012)

Eavan BolandReprinted by permission of Carcarnet from New Collected Poems (2005)

The Emigrant Irish

Like oil lamps we put them out the back,

of our houses, of our minds. We had lightsbetter than, newer than and then

a time came, this time and nowwe need them. Their dread, makeshift example.

They would have thrived on our necessities.What they survived we could not even live.By their lights now it is time toimagine how they stood there, what they stood with,that their possessions may become our power.

Cardboard. Iron. Their hardships parcelled in them.Patience. Fortitude. Long-sufferingin the bruise-coloured dusk of the New World.

And all the old songs. And nothing to lose.

MAYOR OF LONDON tfl.gov.uk/poems Transport for London

Poems on the Underground: A New Edition (Particular Books/Penguin 2012)

John FullerReprinted by the permission of the author

Concerto for Double BassHe is a drunk leaning companionablyAround a lamp post or doing upWith intermittent concentrationAnother drunk’s coat.

He is a polite but devoted Valentino,Cheek to cheek, forgetting the next step.He is feeling the pulse of the fat ladyOr cutting her in half.

But close your eyes and it is sunsetAt the edge of the world. It is the languageOf dolphins, the growth of tree-roots,The heart-beat slowing down.

MAYOR OF LONDON tfl.gov.uk/poems Transport for London

Poems on the Underground: A New Edition (Particular Books/Penguin 2012)

Owen SheersReprinted by the permission of the author from Skirrid Hill (Seren 2005)

Swallows

The swallows are italic again,cutting their sky-jivebetween telephone wires,flying in crossed lines.

Their annual regenerationso flawless to human eyesthat there is no seambetween parent and child.

Just always the swallowsand their script of descenders,dipping their ink to sign their signaturesacross the page of the sky.