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DOWNING COLLEGE ASSOCIATIONF EATURESS TART AT THE B EGINNINGIf you read Magenta NewsFrom back to frontStarting at 2008And ending with 1800–1949The picture forms a clearer narrative:To begin withThe flush of excitementOf the first employmentWith initial companiesThat have no names,Unlocal weddings,And babies born of varying weight:An optimistic social networkReflecting perhaps the feminine influence:Which is not present in the middle periodWhen the record is scarcer:The daily grind of work and bringing up family,No longer so heroic or romantic,Preoccupies.Until retirement comes:The reports become fullerAnd looking backThe warp and weft of the past indiscriminate threadsForm tapestries of sortsDepicting a Claudian landscape:Others from harder tilesA mosaic of haphazard natureBut grouted now with mature interestsMore sober perhaps:Mozart, hands of bridge, and the sporting world,Charity.PatientlyThe elder statesmen sit in the ante roomIn a lower tax bracketWaiting for the knockThat means Mr. Parkinson is at the doorOr one of his unwelcome friends.David Cotton. (1956)35