Reaction to As Bad as a Mile

In the last stanza I think it links very strongly with the story of Adam and Eve, 'the apple unbitten in the palm' being a reference to Eve reaching for the apple and taking a bite, and then being banished from Eden. This could be Larkin suggesting that he thinks people don't think about what we do and the consequences that it could have for our future and also that we're in it for what we can get for ourselves, and that we don't think about how it could affect others. You could also interpret this line by saying that life is full of possibilities, much like the apple, but yet we as humans, always seem to take advantage of things, leading to failure. An alternative reading in to the line could be that we should resist temptation and we will get the reward later in life.