Personal Choice Volume 2 No.32

Not Waving but Drowning

Nobody heard him, the dead man,  

But still he lay moaning:

I was much further out than you thought  

And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking

And now he’s dead

It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,  

They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always  

(Still the dead one lay moaning)  

I was much too far out all my life  

And not waving but drowning.

Stevie Smith

Florence Margaret Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971), known as Stevie Smith, was an English poet and novelist. She won the Cholmondeley Award and was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. A play, Stevie by Hugh Whitemore, based on her life, was adapted into a film starring Glenda Jackson.