however the sky grows dark with invitation-card
however we follow the printed directions of sex
however the family is photographed under the flagstaff-
Beyond all this, the wish to be alone.
Beneath it all, desire of oblivion runs:
despite the artful tensions of the calendar,
the life insurance, the tabled fertility rites,
the costly aversion of the eyes from death-
Beneath it all, desire of oblivion runs.
Philip Larkin
