The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot
Production and Sound Design by Kevin Seaman THE HOLLOW MENby T. S. EliotMistah Kurtz-he dead.A penny for the Old Guy We are the hollow menWe are the stuffed menLeaning togetherHeadpiece filled with straw. Alas!Our dried voices, when We whisper togetherAre quiet and meaninglessAs wind in dry grassOr rats' feet over broken glassIn our dry cellar Shape without form shade without colour,Paralyzed force, gesture without motion; Those who have crossedWith direct eyes to death's other KingdomRemember us--if at all-- not as lost Violent souls, but onlyAs the hollow menThe stuffed men. II Eyes I dare not meet in dreamsIn death's dream kingdom These do not appear:There the eyes areSunlight on a broken columnThere is a tree swinging And voices are In the wind's singingMore distant and more solemnThan a fading starLet me be no nearerIn death's dream kingdom Let me also wearSuch deliberate disguisesRat's coat, crowskin, crossed stavesIn a fieldBehaving as the wind behaves No nearer-- Not that final meetingIn the twilight kingdom. III This is the dead landthis is cactus land Here the stone imagesAre raised, here they receiveThe supplication of a dead man's handUnder the twinkle of a fading star. Is it like this In death's other kingdomWaking aloneAt the hour when we areTrembling with tendernessLips that would kiss Form prayers to broken stone IV The eyes are not hereThere are no eye hereIn this valley of dying starsIn this hollow valley This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms. In this last of meeting placesWe grope togetherAnd avoid speechGathered on this beach of the tumid river. Sightless, unlessThe eyes reappearAs the perpetual starMultifoliate roseOf death's twilight kingdom The hope onlyOf empty men. V Here we go round the prickly pearPrickly pear prickly pearHere we go round the prickly pear At five o'clock in the morning. Between the ideaAnd the realityBetween the motionAnd the act Falls the ShadowFor Thine is the Kingdom Between the conceptionAnd the creationBetween the emotion And the responseFalls the ShadowLife is very long Between the desireAnd the spasm Between the potencyAnd the existenceBetween the essenceAnd the descentFalls the Shadow For Thine is the Kingdom For Thine isLife isFor thine is the This is the way the way the world ends This is the way the way the world endsThis is the way the way the world endsNot with a bang but a whimper.