La Figlia Che Piange (by T.S. Eliot)

T.S. Eliot
La Figlia Che Piange
[from Prufrock and Other Observations, 1917]
O quam te memorem virgo . . .
Stand on the highest pavement of the stair—
Lean on a garden urn—
Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair—
Clasp your flowers to you with a pained surprise—
Fling them to the ground and turn
With a fugitive resentment in your eyes:
But weave, weave the sunlight in your hair.
So I would have had him leave,
So I would have had her stand and grieve,
So he would have left
As the soul leaves the body torn and bruised,
As the mind deserts the body it has used.
I should find
Some way incomparably light and deft,
Some way we both should understand,
Simple and faithless as a smile and a shake of the hand.
She turned away, but with the autumn weather
Compelled my imagination many days,
Many days and many hours:
Her hair over her arms and her arms full of flowers.
And I wonder how they should have been together!
I should have lost a gesture and a pose.
Sometimes these cogitations still amaze
The troubled midnight, and the noon's repose.
* * * * *





If you like this poem, you might find the following article about it by Sam Alexander interesting: http://modernism.research.yale.edu/wiki/index.php/La_Figlia_Che_Piange .
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Like this one especially..
But is there a typo in the fourth line? Wouldn't it surprise... not suprise?
Sorry.. just noticed... not sure how the original is written.
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I'm fixing it. Thank you for paying attention.
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