In retirement hush
the noise of the babies
whom in the long ago years are
soundly sleeping,
grown by the farmers,
brought up on shore by the fishers,
might become the tradesmen,
– themselves the future and
one day pensioners,
could apprentice to a cobbler,
learn to garden children as a schoolteacher,
tread the rounds of streets as a postman,
feed the masses as a restaurateur and
pull pints as a publican,
evade as long as possible the undertaker
sire their own babies with a wife and
perhaps even tangle with the fancy woman,
lose their way as a drunkard,
stitch dreams as a dressmaker,
espouse piety as a preacher,
guard the peace as a policeman
vainly trying to contain the webfoot
raucously vibrant, cocklewomen
in glorious opposition and
contrast to the tidy wives…
© Andrew Wilson, 2026
After the second paragraph of Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood – A Play for Voices, 1954.
Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Grace in FormForAll, Poetry Forms, invites us to write a Golden Shovel in which you:
Choose a line from a poem that resonates with you.
*Build your poem so each line ends with a word from that line.
*Keep the words in order, forming the original line down the right margin.
*Let your poem move in its own direction. Surprise us!
*Include attribution (after [poet])
Strictly speaking, the Golden Shovel should use just one word from the original poem at the end of each line, but since both the original text and the new poem are lists, it didn’t seem right to separate Thomas’s original adjectives in some instances, or have a surfeit of definite articles…
Under Milk Wood is my all-time favourite; I’ve seen it performed live, have several audio and film versions (including a cartoon one) and, when I studied it with a top set of GCSE students, they recorded their version of it for me. I love how in your poem the children have so much choice of career, especially ‘learn to garden children as a schoolteacher’ and ‘cocklewomen in glorious opposition and contrast to the tidy wives’.
Thanks Kim, it was hard to choose a quote because I have so many favourite bits but it had to be something that would work with the form – I hope my liberties were not too great…
I like this tribute and clever poem to everyday people and the roles we learn…well done!
Thanks, Cara , its amazing, isn’t it, how diverse are the paths we all find for ourselves…
“learn to garden children as a schoolteacher” – I like this idea. I will consider myself a gardener from now on!
My Dad, who was a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, said there were 3 models for teaching – the jug, where you pour knowledge in, the potter and clay method where you mould the student as you want and the gardening way where you plant seeds, nurture them, keep the weeds away and provide support to grow if needed…
I love the idea of different trades being highlighted in caring for the world. I particularly like: stitch dreams as a dressmaker. Thanks for joining in! Have a good weekend.
Thanks Grace, good to be back and I enjoyed this prompt thanks…
I too like this part, I am all about stitching dreams one seam at a time. Enjoyed your Golden Shovel crafted list.
You took a lengthy line, and used it to perfection!
Thanks so much Sara…