Once and Future

[stoutfellow]

With National Poetry Month drawing to a close, I thought I'd post one of my favorite passages from T. S. Eliot, the final stanza of "Little Gidding".

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always -
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.

Comments

[filkferengi]

Cool!

Have you been reading Patricia McKillip again? That sounds a bit _Riddlemaster Of Hed_-ish, with a dish of Eleanor Farjeon on the side.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

I suspect it's more that McKillip's prose has a more lyrical quality than most fantasy or SF. It's been a while since I've read any of her work, and I'm pretty sure she's published at least two novels since I last looked; I should do something about that.

[filkferengi]

Yep. ;)