Whispers of Immortality (by T.S. Eliot)

T.S. Eliot
T.S. Eliot

Whispers of Immortality
[from Poems, 1920]

Webster was much possessed by death
And saw the skull beneath the skin;
And breastless creatures under ground
Leaned backward with a lipless grin.

Daffodil bulbs instead of balls
Stared from the sockets of the eyes!
He knew that thought clings round dead limbs
Tightening its lusts and luxuries.

Donne, I suppose, was such another
Who found no substitute for sense;
To seize and clutch and penetrate,
Expert beyond experience,

He knew the anguish of the marrow
The ague of the skeleton;
No contact possible to flesh
Allayed the fever of the bone.
            . . . . .

Grishkin is nice: her
Russian eye is underlined for emphasis;
Uncorseted, her friendly bust
Gives promise of pneumatic bliss.

The couched Brazilian jaguar
Compels the scampering marmoset
With subtle effluence of cat;
Grishkin has a maisonette;

The sleek Brazilian jaguar
Does not in its arboreal gloom
Distil so rank a feline smell
As Grishkin in a drawing-room.

And even the Abstract Entities
Circumambulate her charm;
But our lot crawls between dry ribs
To keep our metaphysics warm. 



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Comments

  • 5/5/2009 3:21 AM Wim Van Mierlo wrote:
    If you have an interest in the writings of T.S. Eliot, you might want to visit the website of the T.S. Eliot International Summer School, hosted by the Univerity of London (27 June - 4 July 2009).
    Reply to this
    1. 5/5/2009 3:57 AM Jesus Crisis wrote:
      Thank you, Wim.
      Reply to this
  • 5/14/2009 1:20 AM hillc89 at gmail dot com wrote:
    Hi,
    WEBSTER was much possessed by death
    And saw the skull beneath the skin;
    And breastless creatures under ground
    Leaned backward with a lipless grin.

    Daffodil bulbs instead of balls
    Stared from the sockets of the eyes!
    He knew that thought clings round dead limbs
    Tightening its lusts and luxuries.
    Reply to this
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