Days (poem)

"Days" is a short poem (10 lines) by Philip Larkin, written in 1953 and included in his 1964 collection The Whitsun Weddings.

It begins with a section of 6 lines, opening

What are days for?

in a mock-contented tone.

The final 4 lines bring a brutal reply

Ah, solving that question
Brings the priest and the doctor
In their long coats
Running over the fields.

Famous quotes containing the word days:

    There is one great fact, characteristic of this our nineteenth century, a fact which no party dares deny. On the one hand, there have started into life industrial and scientific forces which no epoch of former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman empire. In our days everything seems pregnant with its contrary.
    Karl Marx (1818–1883)