A Nursery Rhyme in the Style of Philip Larkin

The little bird sat on the branch,

Its feathers dull and drab.

It chirped a mournful tune,

and glanced Around at the world so sad.

 

The sky above was grey and drear,

The trees were bleak and bare.

The little bird had little cheer,

And felt so lost and rare.

 

It thought of all the things it lacked,

Of joy and love and fun.

It felt so small and unattached,

In a world so cold and numb.

 

But then it saw a tiny sprout,

Pushing up through the ground.

And suddenly it felt a shout,

Of hope that it had found.

 

For if a tiny plant could grow,

Amidst the dismal earth,

Then maybe there was room to know,

A happiness and mirth.

 

The little bird began to sing,

A brighter note than before.

It felt a stir of hopeful spring,

And a joy it could explore.

 

So let us learn from this small bird,

That even in the gloom,

There’s always room to find a word,

Of cheer that can illume.

Philip Larkin lost tapes

I’m an unabashed Philip Larkin fan, thanks to my High School English teacher who set The Whitsun Weddings as one of our texts. If you like your poetry with a heavy dash of cynicism and an emphasis on mortality, he’s your man, although there’s a lot more to his work than that. Check out his poem ‘Ambulances‘ for a taste.

Larkin eschewed technology to a large degree, but as the video below shows, he did some recordings in 1981, that only came to light in 2007. It’s worth a look just for the shots of the home recording studio:

Imagine how many recordings that have been made over the past decade alone, that will pop up in the future as real finds. The question is whose hard drive is it sitting on? Share your stories of unearthed digital treasures in the comments below.

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