Boys dream of native girls who bring breadfruit,
     Whatever they are,
As bribes to teach them how to execute
Sixteen sexual positions on the sand;
This makes them join (the boys) the tennis club,
Jive at the Mecca, use deodorants, and
On Saturdays squire ex-schoolgirls to the pub
     By private car.

Such uncorrected visions end in church
     Or registrar:
A mortgaged semi- with a silver birch;
Nippers; the widowed mum; having to scheme
With money; illness; age. So absolute
Maturity falls, when old men sit and dream
Of naked native girls who bring breadfruit
     Whatever they are.

Added: on September 22nd, 2008 at 4:15 AM | Viewed: 3475 times | Comments (1)

Poet: Philip Larkin
Poem: Breadfruit
Volume: Critical Quarterly
Year: Published/Written in 1961

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