CIVILISED WOMAN

The women who walk down Oxford Street
Have bird-like faces and brick-like feet;
Floppity flop go 'tens' and 'elevens'
Of Eesiphit into D.H. Evans.
The women who walk down Oxford Street
Suffer a lot frm nerves and heat,
But with Bovril, Tizer and Phosperine
They may all become what they might have been.
They gladly clatter with bag in hand
Out of the train from Metroland,
And gladly gape, when commerce calls,
At all the glory of plate-glass walls,
And gladly buy, till their bags are full,
"Milton' cleaner and 'Wolsey' wool,
'Shakespeare' cornflour, a 'Shelley' shirt,
'Brighto', 'Righto' and 'Moovyerdirt'.
Commerce pours on them gifts like rain;
Back in Metroland once again,
Wasn't it worth your weary feet -
The colourful bustle of Oxford Street?

John Betjeman

Edition of 20. £50