Pub Grub (Jude The Obscure, Oxford) Poem by Edwin Hopper

In the lunchtime bar of Jude The Obscure
Emma rocks Callum, her gorgeous baby boy.
He laughs with innocence that’s utterly pure.
Old boozers frowns turn to something like joy

Les comes in from Oxford University Press,
Kisses his Emma, then asks the bar maid,
For sandwiches. And hold the water cress.
Boozers sigh for loves that hadn’t stayed

A butterfly blows in from Walton Street
Callum reaches out for it with both hands
Then he tries to kick at it with his feet.
It flies past cinema posters, and lands.

Just For a moment none of us feels poor
In the lunchtime bar of Jude The Obscure