A verse letter from Noel Coward to T.E. Lawrence and Lawrence’s reply
You may or may not be – of that I’m not sure
Though you drew ‘tides of men’ to ‘your hands’.
I know you were taken by pottery’s lure,
You could potter with me in the sands!
The Ottoman lot you abhorred. Well done you!
But my ottoman you could explore,
Who knows what you’d find there while rummaging through
Or what items you’d come to adore?
Whether I am or am not stays unknown.
I refused Knight Commander it’s true,
And yet, if we found ourselves somewhere alone
In the night then I might command you.
My true loves are piston-powered, bi-wheeled and quick,
Brough motorbikes speed me ahead,
And not ‘Brief Encounters’ with such as are slick
Or, like you, not of baronets bred.
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