This Be the Verse

Title of the post is the title of the poem -- I've begun to feel things are a little cozy here so --

This Be the Verse by Philip Larkin

They fuck you up, your mum and dad,
They may not mean to but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had,
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn,
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern,
And half at one another's throats.

Men hands on misery to man,
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.


This is ringing bells with me today because I just saw a documentary about Mike Tyson. Like many other highly successful young black men [and vastly more unsuccessful, often incarcerated ones] both his family and society had fucked him up big time.