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Betjeman, Sir John. Autograph draft of his poem "Late-Flowering Lust"
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Description
Betjeman, Sir John. Autograph draft of his poem "Late-Flowering Lust"
written in black ink with copious deletions and revisions, untitled, on the verso of a printed circular sent to Betjeman by The Art-Workers' Guild, the circular dated 6 April 1948
written in double columns on 1 page, 4to, [1948], slight wear at folds
...A week? or twenty years remain?
And then-what kind of death?
A losing fight with frightful pain
Or a gasping fight for breath?
Too long we let our bodies cling,
We cannot hide disgust
At all the thoughts that in us spring
From this late-flowering lust.
Betjeman's well-known lament on old age "Late-Flowering Lust" was first published in The Harlequin in 1950 and subsequently in A Few Late Chrysanthemums (1954).
written in black ink with copious deletions and revisions, untitled, on the verso of a printed circular sent to Betjeman by The Art-Workers' Guild, the circular dated 6 April 1948
written in double columns on 1 page, 4to, [1948], slight wear at folds
...A week? or twenty years remain?
And then-what kind of death?
A losing fight with frightful pain
Or a gasping fight for breath?
Too long we let our bodies cling,
We cannot hide disgust
At all the thoughts that in us spring
From this late-flowering lust.
Betjeman's well-known lament on old age "Late-Flowering Lust" was first published in The Harlequin in 1950 and subsequently in A Few Late Chrysanthemums (1954).