Wednesday, January 19, 2005

It's the question that brought you here (Prufrock #1)

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question …
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
Let us go and make our visit.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

3 comments:

Craig Schwarze said...

So Lara, what is your PhD in?

Lara said...

My PhD is in History and Philosophy of Science. I'm looking at the dynamics of natural theological discourse in post-Restoration England. Ask again if you want to know more. I try to avoid inflicting the details of my research on people unless they do actually want to hear about it!

Craig Schwarze said...

That sounds pretty interesting. What was your undergrad in? Where are you studying? And just who were the key natural theologians in the post-restoration period? You can email me directly if you like - my email addr is on my blogger profile. Or post it up here as blog entries...