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T. S. Eliot (1925)

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'''I'''

We are the hollow men<br />
We are the stuffed men<br />
Leaning together<br />
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!<br />
Our dried voices, when<br />
We whisper together<br />
Are quiet and meaningless<br />
As wind in dry grass<br />
Or rats' feet over broken glass<br />
In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,<br />
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed<br />
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom<br />
Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost<br />
Violent souls, but only<br />
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.

'''II'''

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams<br />
In death's dream kingdom<br />
These do not appear:<br />
There, the eyes are<br />
Sunlight on a broken column<br />
There, is a tree swinging<br />
And voices are<br />
In the wind's singing<br />
More distant and more solemn<br />
Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer<br />
In death's dream kingdom<br />
Let me also wear<br />
Such deliberate disguises<br />
Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves<br />
In a field<br />
Behaving as the wind behaves<br />
No nearer --

Not that final meeting<br />
In the twilight kingdom

'''III'''

This is the dead land<br />
This is cactus land<br />
Here the stone images<br />
Are raised, here they receive<br />
The supplication of a dead man's hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.

It is like this<br />
In death's other kingdom<br />
Waking alone<br />
At the hour when we are<br />
Trembling with tenderness<br />
Lips that would kiss<br />
Form prayers to broken stone.

'''IV'''

The eyes are not here<br />
There are no eyes here<br />
In this valley of dying stars<br />
In this hollow valley<br />
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms

In this last of meeting places<br />
We grope together<br />
And avoid speech<br />
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river

Sightless, unless<br />
The eyes reappear<br />
As the perpetual star<br />
Multifoliate rose<br />
Of death's twilight kingdom<br />
The hope only<br />
Of empty men.

'''V'''

Here we go round the prickly pear<br />
Prickly pear prickly pear<br />
Here we go round the prickly pear<br />
At five o'clock in the morning.

Between the idea<br />
And the reality<br />
Between the motion<br />
And the act<br />
Falls the Shadow<br />
For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception<br />
And the creation<br />
Between the emotion<br />
And the response<br />
Falls the Shadow<br />
Life is very long

Between the desire<br />
And the spasm<br />
Between the potency<br />
And the existence<br />
Between the essence<br />
And the descent<br />
Falls the Shadow<br />
For Thine is the Kingdom

For Thine is the<br />
Life is<br />
For Thine is the

This is the way the world ends<br />
This is the way the world ends<br />
[[E#entropy|This is the way the world ends<br />
Not with a bang but a whimper.]]

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