Born yesterday (Philip Larkin)
Tightly-folded bud,
I have wished you something
None of the others would:
Not the usual stuff
About being beautiful,
Or running off a spring
Of innocence and love –
They will all wish you that,
And should it prove possible,
Well, you’re a lucky girl.
But if it shouldn’t, then
May you be ordinary;
Have, like other women,
An average of talents:
Not ugly, not good-looking,
Nothing uncustomary
To pull you off your balance,
That, unworkable itself,
Stops all the rest from working.
In fact, may you be dull –
If that is what a skilled,
Vigilant, flexible,
Unemphasised, enthralled
Catching of happiness is called.
September 21st, 2010 20:45
I love Larkin, and this is one of his most beautiful and least cynical poems. Thanks for posting it! I’ve always been fascinated by the various stories of fairies bestowing qualities on the newborn way they explore nature and nurture, destiny and latent flaws/failings as well as virtues. Having said it’s one of his least cynical efforts, I have to admire how, in concluding that happiness is almost a flaw, something only possible for the dull and ordinary, Larkin manages to draw an implicit comparison with his own state, the high and lonely and cheerless destiny of those on whom talent was bestowed. Great stuff.