Quarterly, is it, money reproaches me:
'Why do you let me lie here wastefully?
I am all you never had of goods and sex,
You could get them still by writing a few cheques.'
So I look at others, what they do with theirs:
They certainly don't keep it upstairs.
By now they've a second house and car and wife:
Clearly money has something to do with life
- In fact, they've a lot in common, if you enquire:
You can't put off being young until you retire,
And however you bank your screw, the money you save
Won't in the end buy you more than a shave.
I listen to money singing. It's like looking down
From long French windows at a provincial town,
The slums, the canal, the churches ornate and mad
In the evening sun. It is intensely sad.
Back to Philip Larkin
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Comments2I REMEMBER READING THIS PHILIP LARKIN POEM WHEN I WAS YOUNGER AND IT ALWAYS STUCK WITH ME. IT'S CRAZY HOW MONEY SEEMS TO CONTROL SO MUCH OF OUR LIVES AND TAKES AWAY FROM WHAT REALLY MATTERS. THIS PASSAGE REALLY HITS HOME: "YOU CAN'T PUT OFF BEING YOUNG UNTIL YOU RETIRE, / AND HOWEVER YOU BANK YOUR SCREW, THE MONEY YOU SAVE / WON'T IN THE END BUY YOU MORE THAN A SHAVE." AS A YOUNG STUDENT DOING HOMEWORK, LARKIN'S WORDS REMIND ME TO PRIORITIZE LIVING LIFE NOW.
The line "Clearly money has something to do with life" really resonates. It's not everything, but it's part of our world.