I thought I’d cracked life’s secret code
in nineteen sixty-three
(no rampant sex for me).
I signed up for the socialist road,
so sure it held the key.
But the CP road was a cul-de-sac
as anyone could see
(no Stalinism for me)
so I chose to take a Trotskyite tack,
quite sure it held the key.
But the Bolshevik road demanded my soul
and it was not for me
(no more politics for me)
so I crept out of my sixties hole
and gave up certainty.
I thought I’d found the solution
in nineteen sixty-three
(no hedonism for me).
I signed up for revolution
but couldn’t find the key.
Very enjoyable poem, I like the repetitions and rhymes. I’m not sure the reference to sixty-three in both first and last stanza is working as well as it might. How would it be, erm, if the final two lines of St.4 were replaced by the final two lines of St.5? and the rest ditched… (ducks for cover)…
What St.5?! I’ve want to keep Larkin’s rhyme scheme ABBAB but I know it all creaks a bit!
Sorry, can’t count. What I meant was make the third stanza the last:
But the Bolshevik road demanded my soul
and it was not for me
(no more politics for me).
I signed up for revolution
but couldn’t find the key.
I realise this mucks up Larkin’s form completely of course… but it’s your poem!