After Philip Larkin

After Philip Larkin came the gloom:
Pursuing that old poet to his doom.
He won't be resurrected
So the crime can't be corrected
But at least he's lying quiet in his tomb.

Which proves his almost-cliché almost true:
As much survives of him as will of you.
But a lie can't be corrected
If it's not closely inspected
And in Larkin's case the truth is overdue.

For his gloomy humour hid a human heart
Though depression often played the greater part.
And his poetry reflected
How his spirit was infected -
What lasts is what was given at the start.