Monday, April 09, 2012

Philip Larkin complete by Michael Dirda - The New Criterion


The mower stalled, twice; kneeling, I found 
A hedgehog jammed up against the blades, 
Killed. It had been in the long grass.
I had seen it before, and even fed it, once. 
Now I had mauled its unobtrusive world 
Unmendably. Burial was no help: 
Next morning I got up and it did not. 
The first day after a death, the new absence 
Is always the same; we should be careful 
Of each other, we should be kind 
While there is still time.

---SPSmith

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