EROS AND THANATOS Beyond all this, the wish to be alone However the sky grows dark with invitation-cards However we follow the printed directions of sex However the family is photographed under the flagstaff-- Beyond all this, the wish to be alone Beneath it all desire of oblivion runs Despite the artful tensions of the calendar, The life insurance, the tabled fertility rites, The costly aversion of the eyes from death -- Beneath it all desire of oblivion runs. * PHILIP LARKIN