Homer

Coming out of Blackwells to stroll across the Broad,
To the portals of old Coll. Exon.,
I saw a sight that struck me like a sword—
Homer, the lithe young Texan!

Homer with his crew-cut, Homer in his jeans,
Homer with his rimless specs on—
Will Homer nod? If so, it means
That he's leading the whole male sex on!

15 February 1957

NOTES

• Charles Thomas comments on this in a letter to the editors of 9-i-1998: 'In 1956-7 Stuart and I discovered the poems of the Rev EE Bradford, a Victorian, mildly homosexual. This is a spoof of one of them.'
The poem was sent to CT in a TS letter dated 15-ii-1957 with SP's comments leading into the poem: 'I think the Rev EE would have a jolly time in contemporary Oxford, and in fact might write as follows [there follows the poem]
• [See also note under 'Fads and fancies'. Eds]