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
80	From which a golden Cupidon peeped out
	(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 colored glass,
	Unstoppered, lurked her strange synthetic perfumes,
	Unguent, powdered, or liquid--troubled, confused
	And drowned the sense in odors; stirred by the air
90	That freshened from the window, these ascended
	In fattening the prolonged candle-flames,
	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 carvèd dolphin swam.
	Above the antique mantle was displayed
	As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene
	The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king
100	So rudely forced; yet there the nightingale
	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 world enclosed.
	Footsteps shuffled on the stair.
	Under the firelight, under the brush, her hair
	Spread out in fiery points
110	Glowed into words, then would be savagely still.
	'My nerves are bad tonight. 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?'
120	Nothing again nothing.
	'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
130	So intelligent
	'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 tomorrow?
	'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--
140	I didn't mince my words, I said to her myself,
	HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S 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.
150	Oh is there, she said. Something o' that, I said.
	Then I'll know who to thank, she said, and give me a straight look.
	HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S 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.)
161	The chemist said it would be all right, 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 IT'S 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 IT'S TIME
	HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME
	Goonight Bill. Goonight Lou. Goonight May. Goonight.
171	Ta ta. Goonight. Goonight.
	Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.
	[ The Burial of the Dead | A Game of Chess | The Fire Sermon ]
	[ Death by Water | What the Thunder Said ]
08/13/97	xanax@enteract.com