荒原
荒原（献给埃兹拉·庞德
最卓越的匠人）
一、死者葬礼
四月是最残忍的一个月，荒地上
长着丁香，把回忆和欲望
参合在一起，又让春雨
催促那些迟钝的根芽。
冬天使我们温暖，大地
给助人遗忘的雪覆盖着，又叫
枯干的球根提供少许生命。
夏天来得出人意外，在下阵雨的时候
来到了斯丹卜基西；我们在柱廊下躲避，
等太阳出来又进了霍夫加登，
喝咖啡，闲谈了一个小时。
我不是俄国人，我是立陶宛来的，是地道的德国人。
而且我们小时候住在大公那里
我表兄家，他带着我出去滑雪橇，
我很害怕。他说，玛丽，
玛丽，牢牢揪住。我们就往下冲。
在山上，那里你觉得自由。
大半个晚上我看书，冬天我到南方。
什么树根在抓紧，什么树根在从
这堆乱石块里长出？人子啊，
你说不出，也猜不到，因为你只知道
一堆破烂的偶像，承受着太阳的鞭打
枯死的树没有遮荫。蟋蟀的声音也不使人放心，
焦石间没有流水的声音。只有
这块红石下有影子，
（请走进这块红石下的影子）
我要指点你一件事，它既不像
你早起的影子，在你后面迈步；
也不像傍晚的，站起身来迎着你；
我要给你看恐惧在一把尘土里。
风吹得很轻快，
吹送我回家去，
爱尔兰的小孩，
你在哪里逗留？
“一年前你先给我的是风信子；
他们叫我做风信子的女郎”，
——可是等我们回来，晚了，从风信子的园里来，
你的臂膊抱满，你的头发湿漉，我说不出
话，眼睛看不见，我既不是
活的，也未曾死，我什么都不知道，
望着光亮的中心看时，是一片寂静。
荒凉而空虚是那大海。
马丹梭梭屈里士，著名的女相士，
患了重感冒，可仍然是
欧罗巴知名的最有智慧的女人，
带着一副恶毒的纸牌，这里，她说，
是你的一张，那淹死了的腓尼基水手，
（这些珍珠就是他的眼睛，看！）
这是贝洛多纳，岩石的女主人
一个善于应变的女人。
这人带着三根杖，这是“转轮”，
这是那独眼商人，这张牌上面
一无所有，是他背在背上的一种东西。
是不准我看见的。我没有找到
“那被绞死的人”。怕水里的死亡。
我看见成群的人，在绕着圈子走。
谢谢你。你看见亲爱的爱奎尔太太的时候
就说我自己把天宫图给她带去，
这年头人得小心啊。
并无实体的城，
在冬日破晓的黄雾下，
一群人鱼贯地流过伦敦桥，人数是那么多，
我没想到死亡毁坏了这许多人。
叹息，短促而稀少，吐了出来，
人人的眼睛都盯住在自己的脚前。
流上山，流下威廉王大街，
直到圣马利吴尔诺斯教堂，那里报时的钟声
敲着最后的第九下，阴沉的一声。
在那里我看见一个熟人，拦住他叫道：“斯代真！”
你从前在迈里的船上是和我在一起的！
去年你种在你花园里的尸首，
它发芽了吗？今年会开花吗？
还是忽来严霜捣坏了它的花床？
叫这狗熊星走远吧，它是人们的朋友，
不然它会用它的爪子再把它挖掘出来！
你！虚伪的读者！——我的同类——我的兄弟！
二、对弈
她所坐的椅子，像发亮的宝座
在大理石上放光，有一面镜子，
座上满刻着结足了果子的藤，
还有个黄金的小爱神探出头来
（另外一个把眼睛藏在翅膀背后）
使七枝光烛台的火焰加高一倍，
桌子上还有反射的光彩
缎盒里倾注出的炫目辉煌，
是她珠宝的闪光也升起来迎着；
在开着口的象牙和彩色玻璃制的
小瓶里，暗藏着她那些奇异的合成香料——膏状，粉状或液体的——使感觉
局促不安，迷惘，被淹没在香味里；受到
窗外新鲜空气的微微吹动，这些香气
在上升时，使点燃了很久的烛焰变得肥满，
又把烟缕掷上镶板的房顶，
使天花板的图案也模糊不清。
大片海水浸过的木料洒上铜粉
青青黄黄地亮着，四周镶着的五彩石上，
又雕刻着的海豚在愁惨的光中游泳。
那古旧的壁炉架上展现着一幅
犹如开窗所见的田野景物，
那是翡绿眉拉变了形，遭到了野蛮国王的
强暴：但是在那里那头夜莺
她那不容玷辱的声音充满了整个沙漠，
她还在叫唤着，世界也还在追逐着，
“唧唧”唱给脏耳朵听。
其它那些时间的枯树根
在墙上留下了记认；凝视的人像
探出身来，斜倚着，使紧闭的房间一片静寂。
楼梯上有人在拖着脚步走。
在火光下，刷子下，她的头发
散成了火星似的小点子
亮成词句，然后又转而为野蛮的沉寂。
“今晚上我精神很坏。是的，坏。陪着我。
跟我说话。为什么总不说话。说啊。
你在想什么？想什么？什么？
我从来不知道你在想什么。想。”
我想我们是在老鼠窝里，
在那里死人连自己的尸骨都丢得精光。
“这是什么声音？”
风在门下面。
“这又是什么声音？风在干什么？”
没有，没有什么。
“你
“你什么都不知道？什么都没看见？什么都
不记得？”
我记得
那些珍珠是他的眼睛。
“你是活的还是死的？你的脑子里竟没有什么？”
可是
噢噢噢噢这莎士比希亚式的爵士音乐——
它是这样文静
这样聪明
“我现在该做些什么？我该做些什么？
我就照现在这样跑出去，走在街上
披散着头发，就这样。我们明天该作些什么？
我们究竟该作些什么？”
十点钟供开水。
如果下雨，四点钟来挂不进雨的汽车。
我们也要下一盘棋，
按住不知安息的眼睛，等着那一下敲门的声音。
丽儿的丈夫退伍的时候，我说——
我毫不含糊，我自己就对她说，
请快些，时间到了
埃尔伯特不久就要回来，你就打扮打扮吧。
他也要知道给你镶牙的钱
是怎么花的。他给的时候我也在。
把牙都拔了吧，丽儿，配一副好的，
他说，实在的，你那样子我真看不得。
我也看不得，我说，替可怜的埃尔伯特想一想，
他在军队里耽了四年，他想痛快痛快，
你不让他痛快，有的是别人，我说。
啊，是吗，她说。就是这么回事。我说。
那我就知道该感谢谁了，她说，向我瞪了一眼。
请快些，时间到了
你不愿意，那就听便吧，我说。
你没有可挑的，人家还能挑挑拣拣呢。
要是埃尔伯特跑掉了，可别怪我没说。
你真不害臊，我说，看上去这么老相。
（她还只三十一。）
没办法，她说，把脸拉得长长的，
是我吃的那药片，为打胎，她说。
（她已经有了五个。小乔治差点送了她的命。）
药店老板说不要紧，可我再也不比从前了。
你真是个傻瓜，我说。
得了，埃尔伯特总是缠着你，结果就是如此，我说，
不要孩子你干吗结婚？
请快些，时间到了
说起来了，那天星期天埃尔伯特在家，他们吃滚烫的烧火腿，
他们叫我去吃饭，叫我乘热吃——
请快些，时间到了
请快些，时间到了
明儿见，毕尔。明儿见，璐。明儿见，梅。明儿见。
再见。明儿见，明儿见。
明天见，太太们，明天见，可爱的太太们，明天见，明天见。
三、火诫
河上树木搭成的蓬帐已破坏：树叶留下的最后手指
想抓住什么，又沉落到潮湿的岸边去了。那风
吹过棕黄色的大地，没人听见。仙女们已经走了。
可爱的泰晤士，轻轻地流，等我唱完了歌。
河上不再有空瓶子，加肉面包的薄纸，
绸手帕，硬的纸皮匣子，香烟头
或其他夏夜的证据。仙女们已经走了。
还有她们的朋友，最后几个城里老板们的后代；
走了，也没有留下地址。
在莱芒湖畔我坐下来饮泣……
可爱的泰晤士，轻轻地流，等我唱完了歌。
可爱的泰晤士，轻轻地流，我说话的声音不会大，也不会多。
可是在我身后的冷风里我听见
白骨碰白骨的声音，慝笑从耳旁传开去。
一头老鼠轻轻穿过草地
在岸上拖着它那粘湿的肚皮
而我却在某个冬夜，在一家煤气厂背后
在死水里垂钓
想到国王我那兄弟的沉舟
又想到在他之前的国王，我父亲的死亡。
白身躯赤裸裸地在低湿的地上，
白骨被抛在一个矮小而干燥的阁楼上，
只有老鼠脚在那里踢来踢去，年复一年。
但是在我背后我时常听见
喇叭和汽车的声音，将在
春天里，把薛维尼送到博尔特太太那里。
啊月亮照在博尔特太太
和她女儿身上是亮的
她们在苏打水里洗脚
啊这些孩子们的声音，在教堂里歌唱！
吱吱吱
唧唧唧唧唧唧
受到这样的强暴。
铁卢
并无实体的城
在冬日正午的黄雾下
尤吉尼地先生，哪个士麦那商人
还没光脸，袋里装满了葡萄干
到岸价格，伦敦：见票即付，
用粗俗的法语请我
在凯能街饭店吃午饭
然后在大都会度周末。
在那暮色苍茫的时刻，眼与背脊
从桌边向上抬时，这血肉制成的引擎在等侯
像一辆出租汽车颤抖而等候时，
我，帖瑞西士，虽然瞎了眼，在两次生命中颤动，
年老的男子却有布满皱纹的女性乳房，能在
暮色苍茫的时刻看见晚上一到都朝着
家的方向走去，水手从海上回到家，
打字员到喝茶的时候也回了家，打扫早点的残余，点燃了她的炉子，拿出罐头食品。
窗外危险地晾着
她快要晒干的内衣，给太阳的残光抚摸着，
沙发上堆着（晚上是她的床）
袜子，拖鞋，小背心和用以束紧身的内衣。
我，帖瑞西士，年老的男子长着皱褶的乳房
看到了这段情节，预言了后来的一切——
我也在等待那盼望着的客人。
他，那长疙瘩的青年到了，
一个小公司的职员，一双色胆包天的眼，
一个下流家伙，蛮有把握，
正像一顶绸帽扣在一个布雷德福的百万富翁头上。
时机现在倒是合式，他猜对了，
饭已经吃完，她厌倦又疲乏，
试着抚摸抚摸她
虽说不受欢迎，也没受到责骂。
脸也红了，决心也下了，他立即进攻；
探险的双手没遇到阻碍；
他的虚荣心并不需要报答，
还欢迎这种漠然的神情。
（我，帖瑞西士，都早就忍受过了，
就在这张沙发或床上扮演过的；
我，那曾在底比斯的墙下坐过的
又曾在最卑微的死人中走过的。）
最后又送上形同施舍似的一吻，
他摸着去路，发现楼梯上没有灯……
她回头在镜子里照了一下，
没大意识到她那已经走了的情人；
她的头脑让一个半成形的思想经过：
“总算玩了事：完了就好。”
美丽的女人堕落的时候，又
在她的房里来回走，独自
她机械地用手抚平了头发，又随手
在留声机上放上一张片子。
“这音乐在水上悄悄从我身旁经过”
经过斯特兰德，直到女王维多利亚街。
啊，城啊城，我有时能听见
在泰晤士下街的一家酒店旁
那悦耳的曼陀铃的哀鸣
还有里面的碗盏声，人语声
是渔贩子到了中午在休息：那里
殉道堂的墙上还有
难以言传的伊沃宁的荣华，白的与金黄色的。
长河流汗
流油与焦油
船只漂泊
顺着来浪
红帆
大张
顺风而下，在沉重的桅杆上摇摆。
船只冲洗
漂流的巨木
流到格林威治河区
经过群犬岛。
Weialala leia
Wallala leialala
伊丽莎白和莱斯特
打着桨
船尾形成
一枚镶金的贝壳
红而金亮
活泼的波涛
使两岸起了细浪
西南风
带到下游
连续的钟声
白色的危塔
Weialala leia
Wallala leialala
“电车和堆满灰尘的树。
海勃里生了我。里其蒙和邱
毁了我。在里其蒙我举起双膝
仰卧在独木舟的船底。
“我的脚在摩尔该，我的心
在我的脚下。那件事后
他哭了。他答应‘重新做人’。
我不作声。我该怨恨什么呢？”
“在马该沙滩
我能够把
乌有和乌有联结在一起
脏手上的破碎指甲。
我们是伙下等人，从不指望
什么。”
啊呀看哪
于是我到迦太基来了
烧啊烧啊烧啊烧啊
主啊你把我救拔出来
主啊你救拔
烧啊
四、水里的死亡
腓尼基人弗莱巴斯，死了已两星期，
忘记了水鸥的鸣叫，深海的浪涛
利润与亏损。
海下一潮流
在悄声剔净他的骨。在他浮上又沉下时
他经历了他老年和青年的阶段
进入漩涡。
外邦人还是犹太人
啊你转着舵轮朝着风的方向看的，
回顾一下弗莱巴斯，他曾经是和你一样漂亮、高大的。
五、雷霆的话
火把把流汗的面庞照得通红以后
花园里是那寒霜般的沉寂以后
经过了岩石地带的悲痛以后
又是叫喊又是呼号
监狱宫殿和春雷的
回响在远山那边震荡
他当时是活着的现在是死了
我们曾经是活着的现在也快要死了
稍带一点耐心
这里没有水只有岩石
岩石而没有水而有一条沙路
那路在上面山里绕行
是岩石堆成的山而没有水
若还有水我们就会停下来喝了
在岩石中间人不能停止或思想
汗是干的脚埋在沙土里
只要岩石中间有水
死了的山满口都是龋齿吐不出一滴水
这里的人既不能站也不能躺也不能坐
山上甚至连静默也不存在
只有枯干的雷没有雨
山上甚至连寂寞也不存在
只有绛红阴沉的脸在冷笑咆哮
在泥干缝猎的房屋的门里出现
只要有水
而没有岩石
若是有岩石
也有水
有水
有泉
岩石间有小水潭
若是只有水的响声
不是知了
和枯草同唱
而是水的声音在岩石上
那里有蜂雀类的画眉在松树间歌唱
点滴点滴滴滴滴
可是没有水
谁是那个总是走在你身旁的第三人？
我数的时候，只有你和我在一起
但是我朝前望那白颜色的路的时候
总有另外一个在你身旁走
悄悄地行进，裹着棕黄色的大衣，罩着头
我不知道他是男人还是女人
——但是在你另一边的那一个是谁？
这是什么声音在高高的天上
是慈母悲伤的呢喃声
这些带头罩的人群是谁
在无边的平原上蜂拥而前，在裂开的土地上蹒跚而行
只给那扁平的水平线包围着
山的那边是哪一座城市
在紫色暮色中开裂、重建又爆炸
倾塌着的城楼
耶路撒冷雅典亚力山大
维也纳伦敦
并无实体的
一个女人紧紧拉直着她黑长的头发
在这些弦上弹拨出低声的音乐
长着孩子脸的蝙蝠在紫色的光里
嗖嗖地飞扑着翅膀
又把头朝下爬下一垛乌黑的墙
倒挂在空气里的那些城楼
敲着引起回忆的钟，报告时刻
还有声音在空的水池、干的井里歌唱。
在山间那个坏损的洞里
在幽黯的月光下，草儿在倒塌的
坟墓上唱歌，至于教堂
则是有一个空的教堂，仅仅是风的家。
它没有窗子，门是摆动着的，
枯骨伤害不了人。
只有一只公鸡站在屋脊上
咯咯喔喔咯咯喔喔
刷的来了一炷闪电。然后是一阵湿风
带来了雨
恒河水位下降了，那些疲软的叶子
在等着雨来，而乌黑的浓云
在远处集合在喜马望山上。
丛林在静默中拱着背蹲伏着。
然后雷霆说了话
DA
Datta：我们给了些什么？
我的朋友，热血震动着我的心
这片刻之间献身的非凡勇气
是一个谨慎的时代永远不能收回的
就凭这一点，也只有这一点，我们是存在了
这是我们的讣告里找不到的
不会在慈祥的蛛网披盖着的回忆里
也不会在瘦瘦的律师拆开的密封下
在我们空空的屋子里
DA
Dayadhvam：我听见那钥匙
在门里转动了一次，只转动了一次
我们想到这把钥匙，各人在自己的监狱里
想着这把钥匙，各人守着一座监狱
只在黄昏的时候，世外传来的声音
才使一个已经粉碎了的柯里欧莱纳思一度重生
DA
Damyata：那条船欢快地
作出反应，顺着那使帆用桨老练的手
海是平静的，你的心也会欢快地
作出反应，在受到邀请时，会随着
引导着的双手而跳动
我坐在岸上
垂钓，背后是那片干旱的平原
我应否至少把我的田地收拾好？
伦敦桥塌下来了塌下来了塌下来了
然后，他就隐身在炼他们的火里，
我什么时候才能象燕子——啊，燕子，燕子，
阿基坦的王子在塔楼里受到废黜
这些片断我用来支撑我的断垣残壁
那么我就照办吧。希罗尼母又发疯了。
舍己为人。同情。克制。
平安。平安
平安。
vidi in ampulla pendere, et cum illi pueri dicerent:
Sibylla ti theleis; respondebat illa: apothanein thelo."
I. THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten, 10
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm' aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the archduke's,
My cousin's, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, 20
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust. 30
Frisch weht der Wind
Der Heimat zu
Mein Irisch Kind,
Wo weilest du?
"You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;
"They called me the hyacinth girl."
- Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing, 40
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
Od' und leer das Meer.
Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations. 50
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days.
Unreal City, 60
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying "Stetson!
"You who were with me in the ships at Mylae! 70
"That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
"Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
"Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
Line 42 Od'] Oed' - Editor.
"Oh keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to men,
"Or with his nails he'll dig it up again!
"You! hypocrite lecteur! - mon semblable, - mon frere!"
II. A GAME OF CHESS
The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne,
Glowed on the marble, where the glass
Held up by standards wrought with fruited vines
From which a golden Cupidon peeped out 80
(Another hid his eyes behind his wing)
Doubled the flames of sevenbranched candelabra
Reflecting light upon the table as
The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it,
From satin cases poured in rich profusion;
In vials of ivory and coloured glass
Unstoppered, lurked her strange synthetic perfumes,
Unguent, powdered, or liquid - troubled, confused
And drowned the sense in odours; stirred by the air
That freshened from the window, these ascended 90
In fattening the prolonged candle-flames,
Flung their smoke into the laquearia,
Stirring the pattern on the coffered ceiling.
Huge sea-wood fed with copper
Burned green and orange, framed by the coloured stone,
In which sad light a carved dolphin swam.
Above the antique mantel was displayed
As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene
The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king
So rudely forced; yet there the nightingale 100
Filled all the desert with inviolable voice
And still she cried, and still the world pursues,
"Jug Jug" to dirty ears.
And other withered stumps of time
Were told upon the walls; staring forms
Leaned out, leaning, hushing the room enclosed.
Footsteps shuffled on the stair.
Under the firelight, under the brush, her hair
Spread out in fiery points
Glowed into words, then would be savagely still. 110
"My nerves are bad to-night. Yes, bad. Stay with me.
"Speak to me. Why do you never speak. Speak.
"What are you thinking of? What thinking? What?
"I never know what you are thinking. Think."
I think we are in rats' alley
Where the dead men lost their bones.
"What is that noise?"
The wind under the door.
"What is that noise now? What is the wind doing?"
Nothing again nothing. 120
"Do
"You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember
"Nothing?"
I remember
Those are pearls that were his eyes.
"Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?"
But
O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag -
It's so elegant
So intelligent 130
"What shall I do now? What shall I do?"
I shall rush out as I am, and walk the street
"With my hair down, so. What shall we do to-morrow?
"What shall we ever do?"
The hot water at ten.
And if it rains, a closed car at four.
And we shall play a game of chess,
Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door.
When Lil's husband got demobbed, I said -
I didn't mince my words, I said to her myself, 140
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
Now Albert's coming back, make yourself a bit smart.
He'll want to know what you done with that money he gave you
To get yourself some teeth. He did, I was there.
You have them all out, Lil, and get a nice set,
He said, I swear, I can't bear to look at you.
And no more can't I, I said, and think of poor Albert,
He's been in the army four years, he wants a good time,
And if you don't give it him, there's others will, I said.
Oh is there, she said. Something o' that, I said. 150
Then I'll know who to thank, she said, and give me a straight look.
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
If you don't like it you can get on with it, I said.
Others can pick and choose if you can't.
But if Albert makes off, it won't be for lack of telling.
You ought to be ashamed, I said, to look so antique.
(And her only thirty-one.)
I can't help it, she said, pulling a long face,
It's them pills I took, to bring it off, she said.
(She's had five already, and nearly died of young George.) 160
The chemist said it would be alright, but I've never been the same.
You are a proper fool, I said.
Well, if Albert won't leave you alone, there it is, I said,
What you get married for if you don't want children?
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
Well, that Sunday Albert was home, they had a hot gammon,
And they asked me in to dinner, to get the beauty of it hot -
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
Goonight Bill. Goonight Lou. Goonight May. Goonight. 170
Ta ta. Goonight. Goonight.
Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.
III. THE FIRE SERMON
The river's tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf
Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind
Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed.
Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.
The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers,
Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends
Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed.
And their friends, the loitering heirs of city directors; 180
Departed, have left no addresses.
Line 161 ALRIGHT. This spelling occurs also in
the Hogarth Press edition - Editor.
By the waters of Leman I sat down and wept . . .
Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song,
Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long.
But at my back in a cold blast I hear
The rattle of the bones, and chuckle spread from ear to ear.
A rat crept softly through the vegetation
Dragging its slimy belly on the bank
While I was fishing in the dull canal
On a winter evening round behind the gashouse 190
Musing upon the king my brother's wreck
And on the king my father's death before him.
White bodies naked on the low damp ground
And bones cast in a little low dry garret,
Rattled by the rat's foot only, year to year.
But at my back from time to time I hear
The sound of horns and motors, which shall bring
Sweeney to Mrs. Porter in the spring.
O the moon shone bright on Mrs. Porter
And on her daughter 200
They wash their feet in soda water
Et O ces voix d'enfants, chantant dans la coupole!
Twit twit twit
Jug jug jug jug jug jug
So rudely forc'd.
Tereu
Unreal City
Under the brown fog of a winter noon
Mr. Eugenides, the Smyrna merchant
Unshaven, with a pocket full of currants 210
C.i.f. London: documents at sight,
Asked me in demotic French
To luncheon at the Cannon Street Hotel
Followed by a weekend at the Metropole.
At the violet hour, when the eyes and back
Turn upward from the desk, when the human engine waits
Like a taxi throbbing waiting,
I Tiresias, though blind, throbbing between two lives,
Old man with wrinkled female breasts, can see
At the violet hour, the evening hour that strives 220
Homeward, and brings the sailor home from sea,
The typist home at teatime, clears her breakfast, lights
Her stove, and lays out food in tins.
Out of the window perilously spread
Her drying combinations touched by the sun's last rays,
On the divan are piled (at night her bed)
Stockings, slippers, camisoles, and stays.
I Tiresias, old man with wrinkled dugs
Perceived the scene, and foretold the rest -
I too awaited the expected guest. 230
He, the young man carbuncular, arrives,
A small house agent's clerk, with one bold stare,
One of the low on whom assurance sits
As a silk hat on a Bradford millionaire.
The time is now propitious, as he guesses,
The meal is ended, she is bored and tired,
Endeavours to engage her in caresses
Which still are unreproved, if undesired.
Flushed and decided, he assaults at once;
Exploring hands encounter no defence; 240
His vanity requires no response,
And makes a welcome of indifference.
(And I Tiresias have foresuffered all
Enacted on this same divan or bed;
I who have sat by Thebes below the wall
And walked among the lowest of the dead.)
Bestows one final patronising kiss,
And gropes his way, finding the stairs unlit . . .
She turns and looks a moment in the glass,
Hardly aware of her departed lover; 250
Her brain allows one half-formed thought to pass:
"Well now that's done: and I'm glad it's over."
When lovely woman stoops to folly and
Paces about her room again, alone,
She smoothes her hair with automatic hand,
And puts a record on the gramophone.
"This music crept by me upon the waters"
And along the Strand, up Queen Victoria Street.
O City city, I can sometimes hear
Beside a public bar in Lower Thames Street, 260
The pleasant whining of a mandoline
And a clatter and a chatter from within
Where fishmen lounge at noon: where the walls
Of Magnus Martyr hold
Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold.
The river sweats
Oil and tar
The barges drift
With the turning tide
Red sails 270
Wide
To leeward, swing on the heavy spar.
The barges wash
Drifting logs
Down Greenwich reach
Past the Isle of Dogs.
Weialala leia
Wallala leialala
Elizabeth and Leicester
Beating oars 280
The stern was formed
A gilded shell
Red and gold
The brisk swell
Rippled both shores
Southwest wind
Carried down stream
The peal of bells
White towers
Weialala leia 290
Wallala leialala
"Trams and dusty trees.
Highbury bore me. Richmond and Kew
Undid me. By Richmond I raised my knees
Supine on the floor of a narrow canoe."
"My feet are at Moorgate, and my heart
Under my feet. After the event
He wept. He promised 'a new start'.
I made no comment. What should I resent?"
"On Margate Sands. 300
I can connect
Nothing with nothing.
The broken fingernails of dirty hands.
My people humble people who expect
Nothing."
la la
To Carthage then I came
Burning burning burning burning
O Lord Thou pluckest me out
O Lord Thou pluckest 310
burning
IV. DEATH BY WATER
Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward, 320
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.
V. WHAT THE THUNDER SAID
After the torchlight red on sweaty faces
After the frosty silence in the gardens
After the agony in stony places
The shouting and the crying
Prison and palace and reverberation
Of thunder of spring over distant mountains
He who was living is now dead
We who were living are now dying
With a little patience 330
Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
The road winding above among the mountains
Which are mountains of rock without water
If there were water we should stop and drink
Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think
Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand
If there were only water amongst the rock
Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit
Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit 340
There is not even silence in the mountains
But dry sterile thunder without rain
There is not even solitude in the mountains
But red sullen faces sneer and snarl
From doors of mudcracked houses
If there were water
And no rock
If there were rock
And also water
And water 350
A spring
A pool among the rock
If there were the sound of water only
Not the cicada
And dry grass singing
But sound of water over a rock
Where the hermit-thrush sings in the pine trees
Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop
But there is no water
Who is the third who walks always beside you? 360
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you
Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded
I do not know whether a man or a woman
- But who is that on the other side of you?
What is that sound high in the air
Murmur of maternal lamentation
Who are those hooded hordes swarming
Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth 370
Ringed by the flat horizon only
What is the city over the mountains
Cracks and reforms and bursts in the violet air
Falling towers
Jerusalem Athens Alexandria
Vienna London
Unreal
A woman drew her long black hair out tight
And fiddled whisper music on those strings
And bats with baby faces in the violet light 380
Whistled, and beat their wings
And crawled head downward down a blackened wall
And upside down in air were towers
Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours
And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells.
In this decayed hole among the mountains
In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing
Over the tumbled graves, about the chapel
There is the empty chapel, only the wind's home.
It has no windows, and the door swings, 390
Dry bones can harm no one.
Only a cock stood on the rooftree
Co co rico co co rico
In a flash of lightning. Then a damp gust
Bringing rain
Ganga was sunken, and the limp leaves
Waited for rain, while the black clouds
Gathered far distant, over Himavant.
The jungle crouched, humped in silence.
Then spoke the thunder 400
DA
Datta: what have we given?
My friend, blood shaking my heart
The awful daring of a moment's surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed
Which is not to be found in our obituaries
Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider
Or under seals broken by the lean solicitor
In our empty rooms 410
DA
Dayadhvam: I have heard the key
Turn in the door once and turn once only
We think of the key, each in his prison
Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison
Only at nightfall, aetherial rumours
Revive for a moment a broken Coriolanus
DA
Damyata: The boat responded
Gaily, to the hand expert with sail and oar 420
The sea was calm, your heart would have responded
Gaily, when invited, beating obedient
To controlling hands
I sat upon the shore
Fishing, with the arid plain behind me
Shall I at least set my lands in order?
London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down
Poi s'ascose nel foco che gli affina
Quando fiam ceu chelidon - O swallow swallow
Le Prince d'Aquitaine a la tour abolie 430
These fragments I have shored against my ruins
Why then Ile fit you. Hieronymo's mad againe.
Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.
Shantih shantih shantih
Line 416 aetherial] aethereal
Line 429 ceu] uti - Editor
NOTES ON "THE WASTE LAND"
Not only the title, but the plan and a good deal of the
incidental symbolism of the poem were suggested
by Miss Jessie L. Weston's book on the Grail legend:
From Ritual to Romance (Macmillan).<1> Indeed,
so deeply am I indebted, Miss Weston's book will elucidate
the difficulties of the poem much better than my notes can do;
and I recommend it (apart from the great interest of the book itself)
to any who think such elucidation of the poem worth the trouble.
To another work of anthropology I am indebted in general, one which has
influenced our generation profoundly; I mean The Golden Bough; I have
used especially the two volumes Adonis, Attis, Osiris. Anyone who is
acquainted with these works will immediately recognise in the poem
certain references to vegetation ceremonies.
<1> Macmillan] Cambridge.
I. THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD
Line 20. Cf. Ezekiel 2:1.
23. Cf. Ecclesiastes 12:5.
31. V. Tristan und Isolde, i, verses 5-8.
42. Id. iii, verse 24.
46. I am not familiar with the exact constitution of the Tarot pack
of cards, from which I have obviously departed to suit my own convenience.
The Hanged Man, a member of the traditional pack, fits my purpose
in two ways: because he is associated in my mind with the Hanged God
of Frazer, and because I associate him with the hooded figure in
the passage of the disciples to Emmaus in Part V. The Phoenician Sailor
and the Merchant appear later; also the "crowds of people," and
Death by Water is executed in Part IV. The Man with Three Staves
(an authentic member of the Tarot pack) I associate, quite arbitrarily,
with the Fisher King himself.
60. Cf. Baudelaire:
"Fourmillante cite;, cite; pleine de reves,
Ou le spectre en plein jour raccroche le passant."
63. Cf. Inferno, iii. 55-7.
"si lunga tratta
di gente, ch'io non avrei mai creduto
che morte tanta n'avesse disfatta."
64. Cf. Inferno, iv. 25-7:
"Quivi, secondo che per ascoltare,
"non avea pianto, ma' che di sospiri,
"che l'aura eterna facevan tremare."
68. A phenomenon which I have often noticed.
74. Cf. the Dirge in Webster's White Devil .
76. V. Baudelaire, Preface to Fleurs du Mal.
II. A GAME OF CHESS
77. Cf. Antony and Cleopatra, II. ii., l. 190.
92. Laquearia. V. Aeneid, I. 726:
dependent lychni laquearibus aureis incensi, et noctem flammis
funalia vincunt.
98. Sylvan scene. V. Milton, Paradise Lost, iv. 140.
99. V. Ovid, Metamorphoses, vi, Philomela.
100. Cf. Part III, l. 204.
115. Cf. Part III, l. 195.
118. Cf. Webster: "Is the wind in that door still?"
126. Cf. Part I, l. 37, 48.
138. Cf. the game of chess in Middleton's Women beware Women.
III. THE FIRE SERMON
176. V. Spenser, Prothalamion.
192. Cf. The Tempest, I. ii.
196. Cf. Marvell, To His Coy Mistress.
197. Cf. Day, Parliament of Bees:
"When of the sudden, listening, you shall hear,
"A noise of horns and hunting, which shall bring
"Actaeon to Diana in the spring,
"Where all shall see her naked skin . . ."
199. I do not know the origin of the ballad from which these lines
are taken: it was reported to me from Sydney, Australia.
202. V. Verlaine, Parsifal.
210. The currants were quoted at a price "carriage and insurance
free to London"; and the Bill of Lading etc. were to be handed
to the buyer upon payment of the sight draft.
Notes 196 and 197 were transposed in this and the Hogarth Press edition,
but have been corrected here.
210. "Carriage and insurance free"] "cost, insurance and freight"-Editor.
218. Tiresias, although a mere spectator and not indeed a "character,"
is yet the most important personage in the poem, uniting all the rest.
Just as the one-eyed merchant, seller of currants, melts into
the Phoenician Sailor, and the latter is not wholly distinct
from Ferdinand Prince of Naples, so all the women are one woman,
and the two sexes meet in Tiresias. What Tiresias sees, in fact,
is the substance of the poem. The whole passage from Ovid is
of great anthropological interest:
'. . . Cum Iunone iocos et maior vestra profecto est
Quam, quae contingit maribus,' dixisse, 'voluptas.'
Illa negat; placuit quae sit sententia docti
Quaerere Tiresiae: venus huic erat utraque nota.
Nam duo magnorum viridi coeuntia silva
Corpora serpentum baculi violaverat ictu
Deque viro factus, mirabile, femina septem
Egerat autumnos; octavo rursus eosdem
Vidit et 'est vestrae si tanta potentia plagae,'
Dixit 'ut auctoris sortem in contraria mutet,
Nunc quoque vos feriam!' percussis anguibus isdem
Forma prior rediit genetivaque venit imago.
Arbiter hic igitur sumptus de lite iocosa
Dicta Iovis firmat; gravius Saturnia iusto
Nec pro materia fertur doluisse suique
Iudicis aeterna damnavit lumina nocte,
At pater omnipotens (neque enim licet inrita cuiquam
Facta dei fecisse deo) pro lumine adempto
Scire futura dedit poenamque levavit honore.
221. This may not appear as exact as Sappho's lines, but I had in mind
the "longshore" or "dory" fisherman, who returns at nightfall.
253. V. Goldsmith, the song in The Vicar of Wakefield.
257. V. The Tempest, as above.
264. The interior of St. Magnus Martyr is to my mind one of
the finest among Wren's interiors. See The Proposed Demolition
of Nineteen City Churches (P. S. King & Son, Ltd.).
266. The Song of the (three) Thames-daughters begins here.
From line 292 to 306 inclusive they speak in turn.
V. Gutterdsammerung, III. i: the Rhine-daughters.
279. V. Froude, Elizabeth, Vol. I, ch. iv, letter of De Quadra
to Philip of Spain:
"In the afternoon we were in a barge, watching the games on the river.
(The queen) was alone with Lord Robert and myself on the poop,
when they began to talk nonsense, and went so far that Lord Robert
at last said, as I was on the spot there was no reason why they
should not be married if the queen pleased."
293. Cf. Purgatorio, v. 133:
"Ricorditi di me, che son la Pia;
Siena mi fe', disfecemi Maremma."
307. V. St. Augustine's Confessions: "to Carthage then I came,
where a cauldron of unholy loves sang all about mine ears."
308. The complete text of the Buddha's Fire Sermon (which corresponds
in importance to the Sermon on the Mount) from which these words are taken,
will be found translated in the late Henry Clarke Warren's Buddhism
in Translation (Harvard Oriental Series). Mr. Warren was one
of the great pioneers of Buddhist studies in the Occident.
309. From St. Augustine's Confessions again. The collocation
of these two representatives of eastern and western asceticism,
as the culmination of this part of the poem, is not an accident.
V. WHAT THE THUNDER SAID
In the first part of Part V three themes are employed:
the journey to Emmaus, the approach to the Chapel Perilous
(see Miss Weston's book) and the present decay of eastern Europe.
357. This is Turdus aonalaschkae pallasii, the hermit-thrush
which I have heard in Quebec County. Chapman says (Handbook of
Birds of Eastern North America) "it is most at home in secluded
woodland and thickety retreats. . . . Its notes are not remarkable
for variety or volume, but in purity and sweetness of tone and
exquisite modulation they are unequalled." Its "water-dripping song"
is justly celebrated.
360. The following lines were stimulated by the account of one
of the Antarctic expeditions (I forget which, but I think one
of Shackleton's): it was related that the party of explorers,
at the extremity of their strength, had the constant delusion
that there was one more member than could actually be counted.
367-77. Cf. Hermann Hesse, Blick ins Chaos:
"Schon ist halb Europa, schon ist zumindest der halbe Osten Europas auf dem
Wege zum Chaos, f鋒rt betrunken im heiligem Wahn am Abgrund entlang
und singt dazu, singt betrunken und hymnisch wie Dmitri Karamasoff sang.
Ueber diese Lieder lacht der B黵ger beleidigt, der Heilige
und Seher h鰎t sie mit Tr鋘en."
402. "Datta, dayadhvam, damyata" (Give, sympathize,
control). The fable of the meaning of the Thunder is found
in the Brihadaranyaka-Upanishad, 5, 1. A translation is found
in Deussen's Sechzig Upanishads des Veda, p. 489.
408. Cf. Webster, The White Devil, v. vi:
". . . they'll remarry
Ere the worm pierce your winding-sheet, ere the spider
Make a thin curtain for your epitaphs."
412. Cf. Inferno, xxxiii. 46:
"ed io sentii chiavar l'uscio di sotto
all'orribile torre."
Also F. H. Bradley, Appearance and Reality, p. 346:
"My external sensations are no less private to myself than are my
thoughts or my feelings. In either case my experience falls within
my own circle, a circle closed on the outside; and, with all its
elements alike, every sphere is opaque to the others which surround
it. . . . In brief, regarded as an existence which appears in a soul,
the whole world for each is peculiar and private to that soul."
425. V. Weston, From Ritual to Romance; chapter on the Fisher King.
428. V. Purgatorio, xxvi. 148.
"'Ara vos prec per aquella valor
'que vos guida al som de l'escalina,
'sovegna vos a temps de ma dolor.'
Poi s'ascose nel foco che gli affina."
429. V. Pervigilium Veneris. Cf. Philomela in Parts II and III.
430. V. Gerard de Nerval, Sonnet El Desdichado.
432. V. Kyd's Spanish Tragedy.
434. Shantih. Repeated as here, a formal ending to an Upanishad.
'The Peace which passeth understanding' is a feeble translation
of the content of this word.