'Seventy feet down'
.
.
Seventy feet down
The sea explodes upwards,
Relapsing, to slaver
Off landing-stage steps -
Running suds, rejoice!
.
Rocks writhe back to sight.
Mussels, limpets,
Husband their tenacity
In the freezing slither -
Creatures, I cherish you!
.
By day, sky builds
Grape-dark over the salt
Unsown stirring fields.
Radio rubs its legs,
Telling me of elsewhere:
.
Barometers falling,
Ports wind-shuttered,
Fleets pent like hounds,
Fires in humped inns
Kippering sea-pictures -
.
Keep it all off!
By night, snow swerves
(O loose moth world)
Through the stare travelling
Leather-black waters.
.
Guarded by brilliance
I set plate and spoon,
And after, divining cards.
Lit shelved liners
Grope like mad worlds westwards.
.
Philip Larkin
.