But They Do.

There's a man and woman conspiring,
You could almost say planning,
To fuck me over, like dogma.

I take it, like a punchbag.
I suppose I'm supposed to.
Rules are rules, after all.

But, when the blinding light
Of demand leads me down the aisle,
Hand-in-hand with another

We pause ahead of the paraphernalia
Of religion to ponder whether any
Of this is actually worth it.

What we put together is more
than our dreams and all we demand
in return is a little rule breaking.

Philip Larkin, English poet, author, and librarian, was born today in 1922.