Larkin subverted. Dedicated to my dad Paul and my grandmother Joan, both of whom slipped away .

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.  

They don’t mean to, but they do.  

They slip away through nights and days

 And take along some special bits of you.

But they were fucked up in their turn

By others who slipped away as well ,  

Who half the time were wholly blind

And then they were totally unwell.

Man hands oblivion on to man.

It deepens like a screen of static.

Hold those marbles as long as you can,

And another double whisky while you’re at it.