Return to Ealing and update
Return to Ealing, by John BetjemanReturn, return to Ealing,Worn poet of the farm!Regain your boyhood feelingOf uninvaded calm!For there the leafy avenuesOf lime and chestnut mix’dDo widely wind, by art designed,The costly houses ’twixt.No early morning tractorsThe thrush and blackbird drown,No nuclear reactorsBulge huge below the down,No youth upon his motor-bikeHis lust for power fulfilWith dentist’d drill intent to killThe silence of the hills.In Ealing on a SundayBell-haunted quiet falls,In Ealing on a Monday‘Milk-o!’ the milkman calls;No lorries grind in bottom gearUp steep and narrow lanes,Nor constant here offend the earLow-flying aeroplanes.Return, return to Ealing,Worn poet of the farm!Regain your boyhood feelingOf uninvaded calm!Where smoothly glides the bicycleAnd softly flows the BrentAnd a gentle gale from PerivaleSends up the hayfield scent.Return to Ealing, by GrahamReturn, return to Ealing,Worn poet from the sticks!Regain your boyhood feelingOf multi ethnic mix!For there the leafy avenuesOf lime and chestnut mix’dDo widely wind, by art designed,The costly houses ’twixt.No early morning tractorsThe thrush and blackbird drown,No nuclear reactorsBulge huge below the down,The youth upon his motor-bikeHis lust for power fulfilsAnd muggers on their mopedsSnatch mobiles at their wills.In Ealing on a SundaySunday trading malls,In Ealing on a MondayConstant mobile calls;Lorries grind in bottom gearPast buses faster lanes,And constant here offend the earHeathrow's aeroplanes.Return, return to Ealing,Worn poet from the sticks!Regain your boyhood feelingOf multi ethnic mix!Where smoothly glides the bicycleAnd softly flows the BrentAnd Hoovers now in PerivaleHas Tesco flats to rent
Graham Weeks ● 2408d1 Comments