Will church bells ring to celebrate
It as the nation’s gain?
(Found: new Poet Laureate!)
Or toll: a drain, a pain?
Boring stuff (Slough of Despond
To wade through) will he pen?
Or dainty ditties, of which they’ll be fond -
Ladies and gentlemen?
In frowzy city streets, ambitious clerks
Who yearn to park their own, new, sleek Lagonda;
The rural tennis-girls, in pressed white frocks -
Will they welcome the next appointee yonder?
This honour may seem venal, earthy -
It will be in all the daily news.
I doubt whether I’m really worthy -
But I also doubt I shall refuse.
(John Betjeman)
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