From the geyser ventilators
Autumn winds are blowing down
On a thousand business women
Having baths in Camden Town
Waste pipes chuckle into runnels,
Steam's escaping here and there,
Morning trains through Camden cutting
Shake the Crescent and the Square.
Early nip of changeful autumn,
Dahlias glimpsed through garden doors,
At the back precarious bathrooms
Jutting out from upper floors;
And behind their frail partitions
Business women lie and soak,
Seeing through the draughty skylight
Flying clouds and railway smoke.
Rest you there, poor unbelov'd ones,
Lap your loneliness in heat.
All too soon the tiny breakfast,
Trolley-bus and windy street!
Back to Sir John Betjeman
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Comments2JUST READ BUSINESS GIRLS AGAIN AFTER A LONG TIME. GOTTA SAY, STILL NOT A FAN. FEELS A BIT WIERD AND UNRELATABLE. READ THIS ONE BACK IN THE DAY, BUT IT DOESN'T AGED VERY WELL. THAT'S JUST ME THOUGHT.
Loved this piece. The vivid imagery takes you right there! The beauty in the everyday grind, it's refreshing really. Wonder what the 'business women' symbolize though? Are they only a literal group or a metaphoric representation of something larger? Anyway, true art, this.