Friday, May 18, 2007

Poetry Friday 50

I mentioned last week, Stephen Greenhorn's use of T S Eliot's The Hollow Men in his episode of "Doctor Who". The Doctor also alluded to Eliot's reference to Lazarus in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock "I am Lazarus, come from the dead", so I thought I would share part of the poem with you this week:

The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

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.


You'll find the full poem, with annotations, here.

I picked this part of the poem in particular because of the references to Time and tea (the Doctor's favourite, life-saving (post-Regeneration) beverage), and just because I like it!

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