Death In Leamington
She died in the upstairs
By the light of the ev'ning
That shone through the plate glass
From over Leamington
Beside her the lonely
Lay patiently and unstirred,
But the fingers that would have work'd
Were dead as the spoken word.
And Nurse came in with the
Breast high 'mid the stands and chairs-But Nurse was alone with her own little soul,
And the things were alone with theirs.
She bolted the big round window,
She let the blinds unroll,
She set a match to the mantle,
She covered the fire with coal.
And "Tea!" she said in a tiny voice"Wake up!
It's nearly five"Oh!
Chintzy, chintzy cheeriness,
Half dead and half alive.
Do you know that the stucco is peeling?
Do you know that the heart will stop?
From those yellow Italianate
Do you hear the plaster drop?
Nurse looked at the silent bedstead,
At the gray, decaying face,
As the calm of a Leamington
Drifted into the place.
She moved the table of
Away from the bed to the wall;
And tiptoeing gently over the
Turned down the gas in the hall.
Sir John Betjeman
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