4a. The Ionic Temple
18 March 2017
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NARRATOR:
Former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion reads his poem, ‘The Ionic Temple, Chiswick.’
SIR ANDREW MOTION:
Once upon a time it was the thimble a seamstress might wear to work for the big Classical gods.
For us it more nearly resembles the domed nose
of a cruise missile easing upwards from its silo.
But enough of that.
When we step inside it fits so snugly I might as well have discovered a way
of living in your head as you now live in mine.
The skylight in the centre overhead is a fontanel yet to close.
We can stare straight back at the sun.