Harrow-On-The-Hill
When melancholy Autumn comes to
And electric trains are lighted after
The poplars near the stadium are
With their tap and tap and whispering to me,
Like the sound of little
Spreading out along the
When the estuary's
With the sea.
Then Harrow-on-the-Hill's a rocky
And Harrow churchyard full of sailor's
And the constant click and kissing of the trolley buses
Is the level of the Wealdstone turned to
And the rumble of the
Is the thunder of the
As they gather for the
Into
There's a storm cloud to the westward over Kenton,
There's a line of harbour lights at Perivale,
Is it rounding rough Pentire in a flood of sunset
The little fleet of trawlers under sail?
Can those boats be only roof
As they stream along the
In a race for port and
With the gale?
Sir John Betjeman
Other author posts
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How did the Devil come When first attack These Norfolk lanes recall lost innocence, The years fall off and find me walking
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Gaily into Ruislip Runs the red electric train, With a thousand Ta's and Daintily alights Elaine;
On A Portrait Of A Deaf Man
The kind old face, the egg-shaped head, The tie, discretely loud, The loosely fitting shooting clothes, A closely fitting shroud
False Security
I remember the dread with which I at a quarter past Let go with a bang behind me our house front And, clutching a present for my dear little hostess tight, Sailed out for the children's party into the