Rhapsody in a Third-Class Carriage

Deadness of English winter, dreariness,
cold sky over provincial towns, mist.
Melancholy of undulating trams
solitary jangling through muddy streets,
narrowness, imperfection, dullness,
black extinguisher over English towns;
mediocre women in dull clothes—
their nudity a disaster—
heavy cunning men (guts and passbooks),
relics of gentry, workmen on bicycles,
puffy small whores, baby carriages,
shops, newspapers, bets, cinemas, allotments . . .

trafficmudroad conditionfogwinterbicyclepedestrianroad sidetown

These are your blood; their begetters
made in the same bed as yours
(horror of copulation),
colossal promiscuity of flesh through centuries
(seed and cemeteries).
Sculptor! show Mars
bloody in gas-lit abattoirs,
Apollo organist of Saint Mary's,
Venus of High Street, Athena,
worshipped at National schools.
Painter! there are beets in allotments,
embankments, coal-yards, villas, grease,
interpret the music, orchestra,
trams, trains, cars, hobnails, factories—
O poet! chant them to the pianola,
to the metronome in faultless verse . . .

carsoundtowntrainother mobilitiesroadurban