The latest in the cycle of poignant poems written by the legendary author, journalist and commentator Clive James CBE is published exclusively in the Times Literary Supplement (TLS).

“Rounded with a Sleep”, which explores the poet’s waning strength, his family and infidelity, ends with the haunting line: “My death is something I must live with now”. Accompanying it is a recording by the author himself of this and a selection of his other recent poems, all first published in the TLS and now available on the TLS’s SoundCloud. In these deeply moving readings, Clive reflects on his ill health, his parents, his own family, love and his mortality.

Peter Stothard, the Editor of the TLS, said: “Clive James has long been a learned, elegiac voice of the TLS and, thanks to these unforgettable recordings of his own words, he always will be”.

The podcast featuring Clive James’s reading his new poem, and others, can be heard here: https://soundcloud.com/the-tls