Over the past few years, I’ve become a real fan of Wendy Cope’s. This poem just adds to that. It’s a simple setting: Waterloo Bridge after a first date. It’s a simple idea: denying you’re in love, trying to reason it away and finally accepting it. And it’s because of these recognisable elements that you’re able to relate. I especially love the second to last line: the head does its best but the heart is the boss. A thesis exactly opposite to that of last week but equally true.
On Waterloo Bridge, where we said our goodbyes,
the weather conditions bring tears to my eyes.
I wipe them away with a black woolly glove
And try not to notice I’ve fallen in love.
On Waterloo Bridge I am trying to think:
This is nothing. you’re high on the charm and the drink.
But the juke-box inside me is playing a song
That says something different. And when was it wrong?
On Waterloo Bridge with the wind in my hair
I am tempted to skip. You’re a fool. I don’t care.
the head does its best but the heart is the boss-
I admit it before I am halfway across.
Wendy Cope
Alix in Wonderland 