The Brides
The Brides
Original Text
A.D. Hope, Collected Poems: 1930-1970 (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1972): 82. PR 6015.O55 A17 1972 Robarts Library
1Down the assembly line they roll and pass
2Complete at last, a miracle of design;
3Their chromium fenders, the unbreakable glass,
4The fashionable curve, the air-flow line.
5Grease to the elbows Mum and Dad enthuse,
6Pocket their spanners and survey the bride;
7Murmur: "A sweet job! All she needs is juice!
8Built for a life-time--sleek as a fish. Inside
9"He will find every comfort: the full set
10Of gadgets; knobs that answer to the touch
11For light or music; a place for his cigarette;
12Room for his knees; a honey of a clutch."
13Now slowly through the show-room's flattering glare
14See her wheeled in to love, console, obey,
15Shining and silent! Parson with a prayer
16Blesses the number-plate, she rolls away
17To write her numerals in his book of life;
18And now, at last, stands on the open road,
19Triumphant, perfect, every inch a wife,
20While the corks pop, the flash-light bulbs explode.
21Her heavenly bowser-boy assumes his seat;
22She prints the soft dust with her brand-new treads,
23Swings towards the future, purring with a sweet
24Concatenation of the poppet heads.
Publication Start Year
1951
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2009
Rhyme
Form