101 Poems, Number 36

Favorite Poems Throughout My Life

36: “Travellers,” in Complete Poems, 2012, by Philip Larkin (1922–85)

It was on Writer’s Almanac

(I think) I saw these lines in print.

I saw the train; I saw the track;

I saw what Philip Larkin meant.

We sometimes isolate ourselves—

Do not at all communicate.

We’re unaware (like books on shelves)

That others near are more than freight.

But in these verses Larkin sees

What should be obvious to us:

A stranger makes us feel … unease—

But need not be superfluous.

Link to poem.