Indulging my love of poetry by posting a poem a day, every day... to inspire, delight and enlighten!
Sunday, 19 August 2012
Day 58: Maintenance
There are indeed all types of love. And here's one that many of us may be familiar with.
Atlas - U.A. Fanthorpe
There is a kind of love called maintenance
Which stores the WD40 and knows when to use it
Which checks the insurance, and doesn’t forget
The milkman; which remembers to plant bulbs;
Which answers letters; which knows the way
The money goes; which deals with dentists
And Road Fund Tax and meeting trains,
And postcards to the lonely; which upholds
The permanently rickety elaborate
Structures of living, which is Atlas.
And maintenance is the sensible side of love,
Which knows what time and weather are doing
To my brickwork; insulates my faulty wiring;
Laughs at my dryrotten jokes; remembers
My need for gloss and grouting; which keeps
My suspect edifice upright in air,
As Atlas did the sky.
Our variety of responsibility is dependent on our dedication to something bigger than ourselves. Responsibility is that ability to respond to something outside our own being.
ReplyDelete