{"id":164,"date":"2007-05-11T21:15:38","date_gmt":"2007-05-11T21:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/virtualchaos.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/05\/11\/the-hollow-men\/"},"modified":"2007-05-11T21:17:15","modified_gmt":"2007-05-11T21:17:15","slug":"the-hollow-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/virtualchaos.co.uk\/blog\/2007\/05\/11\/the-hollow-men\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hollow Men"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/p>\n

We are the hollow men
\nWe are the stuffed men
\nLeaning together
\nHeadpiece filled with straw. Alas!
\nOur dried voices, when
\nWe whisper together
\nAre quiet and meaningless
\nAs wind in dry grass
\nOr rats’ feet over broken glass
\nIn our dry cellar<\/p>\n

Shape without form, shade without colour,
\nParalysed force, gesture without motion;<\/p>\n

Those who have crossed
\nWith direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
\nRemember us — if at all — not as lost
\nViolent souls, but only
\nAs the hollow men
\nThe stuffed men.<\/p>\n

II<\/p>\n

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
\nIn death’s dream kingdom
\nThese do not appear:
\nThere, the eyes are
\nSunlight on a broken column
\nThere, is a tree swinging
\nAnd voices are
\nIn the wind’s singing
\nMore distant and more solemn
\nThan a fading star.<\/p>\n

Let me be no nearer
\nIn death’s dream kingdom
\nLet me also wear
\nSuch deliberate disguises
\nRat’s coat, crowskin, crossed staves
\nIn a field
\nBehaving as the wind behaves
\nNo nearer —<\/p>\n

Not that final meeting
\nIn the twilight kingdom<\/p>\n

III<\/p>\n

This is the dead land
\nThis is cactus land
\nHere the stone images
\nAre raised, here they receive
\nThe supplication of a dead man’s hand
\nUnder the twinkle of a fading star.<\/p>\n

Is it like this
\nIn death’s other kingdom
\nWaking alone
\nAt the hour when we are
\nTrembling with tenderness
\nLips that would kiss
\nForm prayers to broken stone.<\/p>\n

IV<\/p>\n

The eyes are not here
\nThere are no eyes here
\nIn this valley of dying stars
\nIn this hollow valley
\nThis broken jaw of our lost kingdoms<\/p>\n

In this last of meeting places
\nWe grope together
\nAnd avoid speech
\nGathered on this beach of the tumid river<\/p>\n

Sightless, unless
\nThe eyes reappear
\nAs the perpetual star
\nMultifoliate rose
\nOf death’s twilight kingdom
\nThe hope only
\nOf empty men.<\/p>\n

V<\/p>\n

Here we go round the prickly pear
\nPrickly pear prickly pear
\nHere we go round the prickly pear
\nAt five o’clock in the morning.<\/p>\n

Between the idea
\nAnd the reality
\nBetween the motion
\nAnd the act
\nFalls the Shadow<\/p>\n

For Thine is the Kingdom<\/p>\n

Between the conception
\nAnd the creation
\nBetween the emotion
\nAnd the response
\nFalls the Shadow<\/p>\n

Life is very long<\/p>\n

Between the desire
\nAnd the spasm
\nBetween the potency
\nAnd the existence
\nBetween the essence
\nAnd the descent
\nFalls the Shadow
\nFor Thine is the Kingdom<\/p>\n

For Thine is
\nLife is
\nFor Thine is the<\/p>\n

This is the way the world ends
\nThis is the way the world ends
\nThis is the way the world ends
\nNot with a bang but a whimper.<\/p>\n

by T.S. Eliot<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or rats’ feet over broken glass … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,27],"tags":[382,407],"class_list":["post-164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","category-poetry","tag-personal","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualchaos.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualchaos.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualchaos.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualchaos.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualchaos.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/virtualchaos.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/virtualchaos.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualchaos.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/virtualchaos.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}