The House Of Dust - Part Ii - Complete Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCBC BBDB BEFE GBEB HBBB IJAJ C KLMBEBNAOPQR JSTBUBF BNVWXBYOFOP BZBBBAQONBBUQ XA2BBB2C2TBD2BAGBIE2 F2BBBBG2H2BI2MFBS J2 BBK2XBBL2L2M2IIM2XXO N2N2 JBJMMC2C2AO2AUA L FP2GP2Q2IR2 US2BUB BBT2B T2T2U2T2U2 V2W2B EX2UX2 Y2Y2P2JJ BEZ2EZ2 BJT2J A3 BBEDB B3UBUFB FMC3BBC3K2XRR CBBD3FB B3E3BE3 F3F3EEB B TBG3TXUA2I2TULFFC2BG IB3Y2 BE3H3EGXH2I3BDBJ3UK3 I FEAD L3XO BBYFBU2 C2FFM3 XUYB3BLFTI B GEBN3BO3BIII IBC2C2IIFY2FY2T2III B3B3 OBFBOOP3IIII IQ3IQ3 IN3IFI R3K2K2MMFP2S3T3T3 U3U2IM L3IGI L3L3III I U2OC2FV3IQV3BE2P2C2B QMY2IU2G3FIFBY2IIIBQ BV2W3X3YQK2Y3IIFIMIM IL3EIZ3T2A4MB4C4FIIB DV2BXIIB J2 IIBFB BD4FD4 FBJFJ GRIR IFGF JNQN N GFGF IIE4IY2H2Y2 IC2F4V2C2 EJJ IIMFM JJFIMF L3IG4IG4 UV2E4L3E4FH4I4H4 MIII DMBM END UYFYIY YIFI IYFYYIII B IYIYYY P2P2IIIIXK2IB3I FYIB3III FFIF FNEN BCCFC YUP2IP2

I	A
	-
The round red sun heaves darkly out of the sea	B
The walls and towers are warmed and gleam	C
Sounds go drowsily up from streets and wharves	B
The city stirs like one that is half in dream	C
	-
And the mist flows up by dazzling walls and windows	B
Where one by one we wake and rise	B
We gaze at the pale grey lustrous sea a moment	D
We rub the darkness from our eyes	B
	-
And face our thousand devious secret mornings	B
And do not see how the pale mist slowly ascending	E
Shaped by the sun shines like a white robed dreamer	F
Compassionate over our towers bending	E
	-
There like one who gazes into a crystal	G
He broods upon our city with sombre eyes	B
He sees our secret fears vaguely unfolding	E
Sees cloudy symbols shape to rise	B
	-
Each gleaming point of light is like a seed	H
Dilating swiftly to coiling fires	B
Each cloud becomes a rapidly dimming face	B
Each hurrying face records its strange desires	B
	-
We descend our separate stairs toward the day	I
Merge in the somnolent mass that fills the street	J
Lift our eyes to the soft blue space of sky	A
And walk by the well known walls with accustomed feet	J
	-
	-
II THE FULFILLED DREAM	C
	-
More towers must yet be built more towers destroyed	K
Great rocks hoisted in air	L
And he must seek his bread in high pale sunlight	M
With gulls about him and clouds just over his eyes	B
And so he did not mention his dream of falling	E
But drank his coffee in silence and heard in his ears	B
That horrible whistle of wind and felt his breath	N
Sucked out of him and saw the tower flash by	A
And the small tree swell beneath him	O
He patted his boy on the head and kissed his wife	P
Looked quickly around the room to remember it	Q
And so went out For once he forgot his pail	R
	-
Something had changed but it was not the street	J
The street was just the same it was himself	S
Puddles flashed in the sun In the pawn shop door	T
The same old black cat winked green amber eyes	B
The butcher stood by his window tying his apron	U
The same men walked beside him smoking pipes	B
Reading the morning paper	F
	-
He would not yield he thought and walk more slowly	B
As if he knew for certain he walked to death	N
But with his usual pace deliberate firm	V
Looking about him calmly watching the world	W
Taking his ease Yet when he thought again	X
Of the same dream now dreamed three separate times	B
Always the same and heard that whistling wind	Y
And saw the windows flashing upward past him	O
He slowed his pace a little and thought with horror	F
How monstrously that small tree thrust to meet him	O
He slowed his pace a little and remembered his wife	P
	-
Was forty then too old for work like this	B
Why should it be He'd never been afraid	Z
His eye was sure his hand was steady	B
But dreams had meanings	B
He walked more slowly and looked along the roofs	B
All built by men and saw the pale blue sky	A
And suddenly he was dizzy with looking at it	Q
It seemed to whirl and swim	O
It seemed the color of terror of speed of death	N
He lowered his eyes to the stones he walked more slowly	B
His thoughts were blown and scattered like leaves	B
He thought of the pail Why then was it forgotten	U
Because he would not need it	Q
	-
Then just as he was grouping his thoughts again	X
About that drug store corner under an arc lamp	A2
Where first he met the girl whom he would marry	B
That blue eyed innocent girl in a soft blouse	B
He waved his hand for signal and up he went	B2
In the dusty chute that hugged the wall	C2
Above the tree from girdered floor to floor	T
Above the flattening roofs until the sea	B
Lay wide and waved before him And then he stepped	D2
Giddily out from that security	B
To the red rib of iron against the sky	A
And walked along it feeling it sing and tremble	G
And looking down one instant saw the tree	B
Just as he dreamed it was and looked away	I
And up again feeling his blood go wild	E2
	-
He gave the signal the long girder swung	F2
Closer to him dropped clanging into place	B
Almost pushing him off Pneumatic hammers	B
Began their madhouse clatter the white hot rivets	B
Were tossed from below and deftly caught in pails	B
He signalled again and wiped his mouth and thought	G2
A place so high in the air should be more quiet	H2
The tree far down below teased at his eyes	B
Teased at the corners of them until he looked	I2
And felt his body go suddenly small and light	M
Felt his brain float off like a dwindling vapor	F
And heard a whistle of wind and saw a tree	B
Come plunging up to him and thought to himself	S
'By God I'm done for now the dream was right '	-
	-
	-
III INTERLUDE	J2
	-
The warm sun dreams in the dust the warm sun falls	B
On bright red roofs and walls	B
The trees in the park exhale a ghost of rain	K2
We go from door to door in the streets again	X
Talking laughing dreaming turning our faces	B
Recalling other times and places	B
We crowd not knowing why around a gate	L2
We crowd together and wait	L2
A stretcher is carried out voices are stilled	M2
The ambulance drives away	I
We watch its roof flash by hear someone say	I
'A man fell off the building and was killed	M2
Fell right into a barrel ' We turn again	X
Among the frightened eyes of white faced men	X
And go our separate ways each bearing with him	O
A thing he tries but vainly to forget	N2
A sickened crowd a stretcher red and wet	N2
	-
A hurdy gurdy sings in the crowded street	J
The golden notes skip over the sunlit stones	B
Wings are upon our feet	J
The sun seems warmer the winding street more bright	M
Sparrows come whirring down in a cloud of light	M
We bear our dreams among us bear them all	C2
Like hurdy gurdy music they rise and fall	C2
Climb to beauty and die	A
The wandering lover dreams of his lover's mouth	O2
And smiles at the hostile sky	A
The broker smokes his pipe and sees a fortune	U
The murderer hears a cry	A
	-
	-
IV NIGHTMARE	L
	-
'Draw three cards and I will tell your future	F
Draw three cards and lay them down	P2
Rest your palms upon them stare at the crystal	G
And think of time My father was a clown	P2
My mother was a gypsy out of Egypt	Q2
And she was gotten with child in a strange way	I
And I was born in a cold eclipse of the moon	R2
With the future in my eyes as clear as day '	-
	-
I sit before the gold embroidered curtain	U
And think her face is like a wrinkled desert	S2
The crystal burns in lamplight beneath my eyes	B
A dragon slowly coils on the scaly curtain	U
Upon a scarlet cloth a white skull lies	B
	-
'Your hand is on the hand that holds three lilies	B
You will live long love many times	B
I see a dark girl here who once betrayed you	T2
I see a shadow of secret crimes	B
	-
'There was a man who came intent to kill you	T2
And hid behind a door and waited for you	T2
There was a woman who smiled at you and lied	U2
There was a golden girl who loved you begged you	T2
Crawled after you and died	U2
	-
'There is a ghost of murder in your blood	V2
Coming or past I know not which	W2
And here is danger a woman with sea green eyes	B
And white skinned as a witch '	-
	-
The words hiss into me like raindrops falling	E
On sleepy fire She smiles a meaning smile	X2
Suspicion eats my brain I ask a question	U
Something is creeping at me something vile	X2
	-
And suddenly on the wall behind her head	Y2
I see a monstrous shadow strike and spread	Y2
The lamp puffs out a great blow crashes down	P2
I plunge through the curtain run through dark to the street	J
And hear swift steps retreat	J
	-
The shades are drawn the door is locked behind me	B
Behind the door I hear a hammer sounding	E
I walk in a cloud of wonder I am glad	Z2
I mingle among the crowds my heart is pounding	E
You do not guess the adventure I have had	Z2
	-
Yet you too all have had your dark adventures	B
Your sudden adventures or strange or sweet	J
My peril goes out from me is blown among you	T2
We loiter dreaming together along the street	J
	-
	-
V RETROSPECT	A3
	-
Round white clouds roll slowly above the housetops	B
Over the clear red roofs they flow and pass	B
A flock of pigeons rises with blue wings flashing	E
Rises with whistle of wings hovers an instant	D
And settles slowly again on the tarnished grass	B
	-
And one old man looks down from a dusty window	B3
And sees the pigeons circling about the fountain	U
And desires once more to walk among those trees	B
Lovers walk in the noontime by that fountain	U
Pigeons dip their beaks to drink from the water	F
And soon the pond must freeze	B
	-
The light wind blows to his ears a sound of laughter	F
Young men shuffle their feet loaf in the sunlight	M
A girl's laugh rings like a silver bell	C3
But clearer than all these sounds is a sound he hears	B
More in his secret heart than in his ears	B
A hammer's steady crescendo like a knell	C3
He hears the snarl of pineboards under the plane	K2
The rhythmic saw and then the hammer again	X
Playing with delicate strokes that sombre scale	R
And the fountain dwindles the sunlight seems to pale	R
	-
Time is a dream he thinks a destroying dream	C
It lays great cities in dust it fills the seas	B
It covers the face of beauty and tumbles walls	B
Where was the woman he loved Where was his youth	D3
Where was the dream that burned his brain like fire	F
Even a dream grows grey at last and falls	B
	-
He opened his book once more beside the window	B3
And read the printed words upon that page	E3
The sunlight touched his hand his eyes moved slowly	B
The quiet words enchanted time and age	E3
	-
'Death is never an ending death is a change	F3
Death is beautiful for death is strange	F3
Death is one dream out of another flowing	E
Death is a chorded music softly going	E
By sweet transition from key to richer key	B
Death is a meeting place of sea and sea '	-
	-
	-
VI ADELE AND DAVIS	B
	-
She turned her head on the pillow and cried once more	T
And drawing a shaken breath and closing her eyes	B
To shut out if she could this dingy room	G3
The wigs and costumes scattered around the floor	T
Yellows and greens in the dark she walked again	X
Those nightmare streets which she had walked so often	U
Here at a certain corner under an arc lamp	A2
Blown by a bitter wind she stopped and looked	I2
In through the brilliant windows of a drug store	T
And wondered if she dared to ask for poison	U
But it was late few customers were there	L
The eyes of all the clerks would freeze upon her	F
And she would wilt and cry Here by the river	F
She listened to the water slapping the wall	C2
And felt queer fascination in its blackness	B
But it was cold the little waves looked cruel	G
The stars were keen and a windy dash of spray	I
Struck her cheek and withered her veins And so	B3
She dragged herself once more to home and bed	Y2
	-
Paul hadn't guessed it yet though twice already	B
She'd fainted once the first time on the stage	E3
So she must tell him soon or else get out	H3
How could she say it That was the hideous thing	E
She'd rather die than say it and all the trouble	G
Months when she couldn't earn a cent and then	X
If he refused to marry her well what	H2
She saw him laughing making a foolish joke	I3
His grey eyes turning quickly and the words	B
Fled from her tongue She saw him sitting silent	D
Brooding over his morning coffee maybe	B
And tried again she bit her lips and trembled	J3
And looked away and said 'Say Paul boy listen	U
There's something I must tell you ' There she stopped	K3
Wondering what he'd say What would he say	I
'Spring it kid Don't look so serious '	-
'But what I've got to say IS serious '	-
Then she could see how suddenly he would sober	F
His eyes would darken he'd look so terrifying	E
He always did and what could she do but cry	A
Perhaps then he would guess perhaps he wouldn't	D
And if he didn't but asked her 'What's the matter '	-
She knew she'd never tell just say she was sick	L3
And after that when would she dare again	X
And what would he do even suppose she told him	O
	-
If it were Felix If it were only Felix	B
She wouldn't mind so much But as it was	B
Bitterness choked her she had half a mind	Y
To pay out Felix for never having liked her	F
By making people think that it was he	B
She'd write a letter to someone before she died	U2
Just saying 'Felix did it and wouldn't marry '	-
And then she'd die But that was hard on Paul	C2
Paul would never forgive her he'd never forgive her	F
Sometimes she almost thought Paul really loved her	F
She saw him look reproachfully at her coffin	M3
	-
And then she closed her eyes and walked again	X
Those nightmare streets that she had walked so often	U
Under an arc lamp swinging in the wind	Y
She stood and stared in through a drug store window	B3
Watching a clerk wrap up a little pill box	B
But it was late No customers were there	L
Pitiless eyes would freeze her secret in her	F
And then what poison would she dare to ask for	T
And if they asked her why what would she say	I
	-
	-
VII TWO LOVERS OVERTONES	B
	-
Two lovers here at the corner by the steeple	G
Two lovers blow together like music blowing	E
And the crowd dissolves about them like a sea	B
Recurring waves of sound break vaguely about them	N3
They drift from wall to wall from tree to tree	B
'Well am I late ' Upward they look and laugh	O3
They look at the great clock's golden hands	B
They laugh and talk not knowing what they say	I
Only their words like music seem to play	I
And seeming to walk they tread strange sarabands	I
	-
'I brought you this ' the soft words float like stars	I
Down the smooth heaven of her memory	B
She stands again by a garden wall	C2
The peach tree is in bloom pink blossoms fall	C2
Water sings from an opened tap the bees	I
Glisten and murmur among the trees	I
Someone calls from the house She does not answer	F
Backward she leans her head	Y2
And dreamily smiles at the peach tree leaves wherethrough	F
She sees an infinite May sky spread	Y2
A vault profoundly blue	T2
The voice from the house fades far away	I
The glistening leaves more vaguely ripple and sway	I
The tap is closed the water ceases to hiss	I
Silence blue sky and then 'I brought you this '	-
She turns again and smiles He does not know	B3
She smiles from long ago	B3
	-
She turns to him and smiles Sunlight above him	O
Roars like a vast invisible sea	B
Gold is beaten before him shrill bells of silver	F
He is released of weight his body is free	B
He lifts his arms to swim	O
Dark years like sinister tides coil under him	O
The lazy sea waves crumble along the beach	P3
With a whirring sound like wind in bells	I
He lies outstretched on the yellow wind worn sands	I
Reaching his lazy hands	I
Among the golden grains and sea white shells	I
	-
'One white rose or is it pink to day '	-
They pause and smile not caring what they say	I
If only they may talk	Q3
The crowd flows past them like dividing waters	I
Dreaming they stand dreaming they walk	Q3
	-
'Pink to day ' Face turns to dream bright face	I
Green leaves rise round them sunshine settles upon them	N3
Water in drops of silver falls from the rose	I
She smiles at a face that smiles through leaves from the mirror	F
She breathes the fragrance her dark eyes close	I
	-
Time is dissolved it blows like a little dust	R3
Time like a flurry of rain	K2
Patters and passes starring the window pane	K2
Once long ago one night	M
She saw the lightning with long blue quiver of light	M
Ripping the darkness and as she turned in terror	F
A soft face leaned above her leaned softly down	P2
Softly around her a breath of roses was blown	S3
She sank in waves of quiet she seemed to float	T3
In a sea of silence and soft steps grew remote	T3
	-
'Well let us walk in the park The sun is warm	U3
We'll sit on a bench and talk ' They turn and glide	U2
The crowd of faces wavers and breaks and flows	I
'Look how the oak tops turn to gold in the sunlight	M
Look how the tower is changed and glows '	-
	-
Two lovers move in the crowd like a link of music	L3
We press upon them we hold them and let them pass	I
A chord of music strikes us and straight we tremble	G
We tremble like wind blown grass	I
	-
What was this dream we had a dream of music	L3
Music that rose from the opening earth like magic	L3
And shook its beauty upon us and died away	I
The long cold streets extend once more before us	I
The red sun drops the walls grow grey	I
	-
	-
VIII THE BOX WITH SILVER HANDLES	I
	-
Well it was two days after my husband died	U2
Two days And the earth still raw above him	O
And I was sweeping the carpet in their hall	C2
In number four the room with the red wall paper	F
Some chorus girls and men were singing that song	V3
'They'll soon be lighting candles	I
Round a box with silver handles' and hearing them sing it	Q
I started to cry Just then he came along	V3
And stopped on the stairs and turned and looked at me	B
And took the cigar from his mouth and sort of smiled	E2
And said 'Say what's the matter ' and then came down	P2
Where I was leaning against the wall	C2
And touched my shoulder and put his arm around me	B
And I was so sad thinking about it	Q
Thinking that it was raining and a cold night	M
With Jim so unaccustomed to being dead	Y2
That I was happy to have him sympathize	I
To feel his arm and leaned against him and cried	U2
And before I knew it he got me into a room	G3
Where a table was set and no one there	F
And sat me down on a sofa and held me close	I
And talked to me telling me not to cry	F
That it was all right he'd look after me	B
But not to cry my eyes were getting red	Y2
Which didn't make me pretty And he was so nice	I
That when he turned my face between his hands	I
And looked at me with those blue eyes of his	I
And smiled and leaned and kissed me	B
Somehow I couldn't tell him not to do it	Q
Somehow I didn't mind I let him kiss me	B
And closed my eyes Well that was how it started	V2
For when my heart was eased with crying and grief	W3
Had passed and left me quiet somehow it seemed	X3
As if it wasn't honest to change my mind	Y
To send him away or say I hadn't meant it	Q
And anyway it seemed so hard to explain	K2
And so we sat and talked not talking much	Y3
But meaning as much in silence as in words	I
There in that empty room with palms about us	I
That private dining room And as we sat there	F
I felt my future changing day by day	I
With unknown streets opening left and right	M
New streets with farther lights new taller houses	I
Doors swinging into hallways filled with light	M
Half opened luminous windows with white curtains	I
Streaming out in the night and sudden music	L3
And thinking of this and through it half remembering	E
A quick and horrible death my husband's eyes	I
The broken plastered walls my boy asleep	Z3
It seemed as if my brain would break in two	T2
My voice began to tremble and when I stood	A4
And told him I must go and said good night	M
I couldn't see the end How would it end	B4
Would he return to morrow Or would he not	C4
And did I want him to or would I rather	F
Look for another job He took my shoulders	I
Between his hands and looked down into my eyes	I
And smiled and said good night If he had kissed me	B
That would have well I don't know but he didn't	D
And so I went downstairs then half elated	V2
Hoping to close the door before that party	B
In number four should sing that song again	X
'They'll soon be lighting candles round a box with silver handles'	I
And sure enough I did I faced the darkness	I
And my eyes were filled with tears And I was happy	B
	-
	-
IX INTERLUDE	J2
	-
The days the nights flow one by one above us	I
The hours go silently over our lifted faces	I
We are like dreamers who walk beneath a sea	B
Beneath high walls we flow in the sun together	F
We sleep we wake we laugh we pursue we flee	B
	-
We sit at tables and sip our morning coffee	B
We read the papers for tales of lust or crime	D4
The door swings shut behind the latest comer	F
We set our watches regard the time	D4
	-
What have we done I close my eyes remember	F
The great machine whose sinister brain before me	B
Smote and smote with a rhythmic beat	J
My hands have torn down walls the stone and plaster	F
I dropped great beams to the dusty street	J
	-
My eyes are worn with measuring cloths of purple	G
And golden cloths and wavering cloths and pale	R
I dream of a crowd of faces white with menace	I
Hands reach up to tear me My brain will fail	R
	-
Here where the walls go down beneath our picks	I
These walls whose windows gap against the sky	F
Atom by atom of flesh and brain and marble	G
Will build a glittering tower before we die	F
	-
The young boy whistles hurrying down the street	J
The young girl hums beneath her breath	N
One goes out to beauty and does not know it	Q
And one goes out to death	N
	-
	-
X SUDDEN DEATH	N
	-
'Number four the girl who died on the table	G
The girl with golden hair'	F
The purpling body lies on the polished marble	G
We open the throat and lay the thyroid bare	F
	-
One who held the ether cone remembers	I
Her dark blue frightened eyes	I
He heard the sharp breath quiver and saw her breast	E4
More hurriedly fall and rise	I
Her hands made futile gestures she turned her head	Y2
Fighting for breath her cheeks were flushed to scarlet	H2
And suddenly she lay dead	Y2
	-
And all the dreams that hurried along her veins	I
Came to the darkness of a sudden wall	C2
Confusion ran among them they whirled and clamored	F4
They fell they rose they struck they shouted	V2
Till at last a pallor of silence hushed them all	C2
	-
What was her name Where had she walked that morning	E
Through what dark forest came her feet	J
Along what sunlit walls what peopled street	J
	-
Backward he dreamed along a chain of days	I
He saw her go her strange and secret ways	I
Waking and sleeping noon and night	M
She sat by a mirror braiding her golden hair	F
She read a story by candlelight	M
	-
Her shadow ran before her along the street	J
She walked with rhythmic feet	J
Turned a corner descended a stair	F
She bought a paper held it to scan the headlines	I
Smiled for a moment at sea gulls high in sunlight	M
And drew deep breaths of air	F
	-
Days passed bright clouds of days Nights passed And music	L3
Murmured within the walls of lighted windows	I
She lifted her face to the light and danced	G4
The dancers wreathed and grouped in moving patterns	I
Clustered receded streamed advanced	G4
	-
Her dress was purple her slippers were golden	U
Her eyes were blue and a purple orchid	V2
Opened its golden heart on her breast	E4
She leaned to the surly languor of lazy music	L3
Leaned on her partner's arm to rest	E4
The violins were weaving a weft of silver	F
The horns were weaving a lustrous brede of gold	H4
And time was caught in a glistening pattern	I4
Time too elusive to hold	H4
	-
Shadows of leaves fell over her face and sunlight	M
She turned her face away	I
Nearer she moved to a crouching darkness	I
With every step and day	I
	-
Death who at first had thought of her only an instant	D
At a great distance across the night	M
Smiled from a window upon her and followed her slowly	B
From purple light to light	M
	-
Once in her dreams he spoke out clearly crying	E
'I am the murderer death	N
I am the lover who keeps his appointment	D
At the doors of breath '	-
	-
She rose and stared at her own reflection	U
Half dreading there to find	Y
The dark eyed ghost waiting beside her	F
Or reaching from behind	Y
To lay pale hands upon her shoulders	I
Or was this in her mind	Y
	-
She combed her hair The sunlight glimmered	Y
Along the tossing strands	I
Was there a stillness in this hair	F
A quiet in these hands	I
	-
Death was a dream It could not change these eyes	I
Blow out their light or turn this mouth to dust	Y
She combed her hair and sang She would live forever	F
Leaves flew past her window along a gust	Y
And graves were dug in the earth and coffins passed	Y
And music ebbed with the ebbing hours	I
And dreams went along her veins and scattering clouds	I
Threw streaming shadows on walls and towers	I
	-
	-
XI	B
	-
Snow falls The sky is grey and sullenly glares	I
With purple lights in the canyoned street	Y
The fiery sign on the dark tower wreathes and flares	I
The trodden grass in the park is covered with white	Y
The streets grow silent beneath our feet	Y
The city dreams it forgets its past to night	Y
	-
And one from his high bright window looking down	P2
Over the enchanted whiteness of the town	P2
Seeing through whirls of white the vague grey towers	I
Desires like this to forget what will not pass	I
The littered papers the dust the tarnished grass	I
Grey death stale ugliness and sodden hours	I
Deep in his heart old bells are beaten again	X
Slurred bells of grief and pain	K2
Dull echoes of hideous times and poisonous places	I
He desires to drown in a cold white peace of snow	B3
He desires to forget a million faces	I
	-
In one room breathes a woman who dies of hunger	F
The clock ticks slowly and stops And no one winds it	Y
In one room fade grey violets in a vase	I
Snow flakes faintly hiss and melt on the window	B3
In one room minute by minute the flutist plays	I
The lamplit page of music the tireless scales	I
His hands are trembling his short breath fails	I
	-
In one room silently lover looks upon lover	F
And thinks the air is fire	F
The drunkard swears and touches the harlot's heartstrings	I
With the sudden hand of desire	F
	-
And one goes late in the streets and thinks of murder	F
And one lies staring and thinks of death	N
And one who has suffered clenches her hands despairing	E
And holds her breath	N
	-
Who are all these who flow in the veins of the city	B
Coil and revolve and dream	C
Vanish or gleam	C
Some mount up to the brain and flower in fire	F
Some are destroyed some die some slowly stream	C
	-
And the new are born who desire to destroy the old	Y
And fires are kindled and quenched and dreams are broken	U
And walls flung down	P2
And the slow night whirls in snow over towers of dreamers	I
And whiteness hushes the town	P2

Conrad Potter Aiken

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