They fuck you up, your mum and dad

Someone posted this (or was it me?) a little while ago, and I wanted to post it again, because I've been chewing over this as of late. It's one of my favorite poems, aside from Whitman.

Writer.

This Be The Verse: Philip Larkin

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.

SAX AND VIOLINS

Falling falling
Gonna drop like a stone
I'm falling through the atmosphere
On a warm afternoon
If lovers discover
That ev'ryone dies
So don't tell me, please hold me
It's a dangerous life

Daddy dear
Let's get outta here
I'm scared
10 o'clock
Nighttime in New York
It's weird

If you're looking for trouble
That's what you will find

Mom & pop
They will fuck you up
For sure
Love so deep
Kills you in your sleep
It's true

Love keeps us together
Love will keep us alive

And we - are criminals that never
broke no laws
And all - we needed was a net
to break our fall

They're searching for diamonds
They're grabbin' at straws
Sex 'n' sin
Sax 'n' violins
It's heaven
Wooden heads
Furniture with legs
For sale -

Love keeps us together
And love will drive us insane

And we - are criminals that never
broke no laws
And all - we needed was a net
to break our fall

Going home
Back where I belong
To stay -
Rays of light
They will turn the night
To day -

Birds travel together
Birds follow the sun
And I - am watching as the birds go flying home

and I'm surprised I didn't remember that the song contained that line.

It is a universal truth, I think.

Writer.

I can identify..
Now my mother she was a saint :)

My mother was a different sort, as you know. :)

Guys who had good mommas are always the sweetest. ;)

...And don't have any kids yourself.

That's the truth.

You don't know having your "mind" fucked up until you've had teenagers.

You can just toss all the moral/cultural superiority you felt over your folks out the window at that point. :D

They WILL call you on EVERYTHING.

Well...if you raised them right they will.

"Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself."

I left home at 17 but now at 58, I'm sorry that I didn't have kids.

I would have been a better parent than my mom and dad.

That old codger thrills my heart - so dark, so beautiful.

Mary Carr wrote a lovely poem about him. I wish I could find it.

break the cycle