Of a Dilemma - Alan Brownjohn Poem
(Published in The Spectator 25 October 2008 … and clipped to my bulletin board since. It says all that needs to be about being a man of a ‘certain age’ but with the spirit of someone young.)
Going home, having had too much, on the Northern Line
I sense, for once, a sociable atmosphere. Should I speak to the similarly binge-drunk girls
Smiling at me in all bare-legged innocence? I smile, but speak to none of them, picture of (I consider) a most gentlemanly reserve.
And I could … Given that we spent ten minutes halted Between Camden Town and Chalk Farm, and the world for once Seemed tolerant of tie-wearing patrician elders.
