Absences Lyrics
Philip Larkin Absences
Rain patters on a sea that tilts and sighs
Fast-running floors, collapsing into hollows
Tower suddenly, spray-haired. Contrariwise
A wave drops like a wall: another follows
Wilting and scrambling, tirelessly at play
Where there are no ships and no shallows
Above the sea, the yet more shoreless day
Riddled by wind, trails lit-up galleries:
They shift to giant ribbing, sift away
Such attics cleared of me! Such absences!
Fast-running floors, collapsing into hollows
Tower suddenly, spray-haired. Contrariwise
A wave drops like a wall: another follows
Wilting and scrambling, tirelessly at play
Where there are no ships and no shallows
Above the sea, the yet more shoreless day
Riddled by wind, trails lit-up galleries:
They shift to giant ribbing, sift away
Such attics cleared of me! Such absences!
