The Hollow Men
1925

Mistah Kurtz- he dead.

The Hollow Men

penny for the Old Guy 
 
I 
We are the hollow men 
We are the stuffed men 
Leaning together 
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! 
Our dried voices, when 
We whisper together 
Are quiet and meaningless 
As wind in dry grass 
Or rats' feet over broken glass 
In our dry cellar 
Shape without form, shade without colour, 
Paralysed force, gesture without motion; 
Those who have crossed 
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom 
Remember us - if at all - not as lost 
Violent souls, but only 
As the hollow men 
The stuffed men. 
II 
Eyes I dare not meet in dreams 
In death's dream kingdom 
These do not appear: 
There, the eyes are 
Sunlight on a broken column 
There, is a tree swinging 
And voices are 
In the wind's singing 
More distant and more solemn 
Than a fading star. 
Let me be no nearer 
In death's dream kingdom  
Let me also wear 
Such deliberate disguises 
Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves 
In a field 
Behaving as the wind behaves 
No nearer - 
Not that final meeting 
In the twilight kingdom 
III 
This is the dead land 
This is cactus land 
Here the stone images 
Are raised, here they receive 
The supplication of a dead man's hand 
Under the twinkle of a fading star. 
Is it like this  
In death's other kingdom 
Waking alone 
At the hour when we are 
Trembling with tenderness 
Lips that would kiss 
Form prayers to broken stone. 
IV 
The eyes are not here 
There are no eyes here 
In this valley of dying stars 
In this hollow valley 
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms 
In this last of meeting places 
We grope together 
And avoid speech 
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river  
Sightless, unless 
The eyes reappear 
As the perpetual star 
Multifoliate rose 
Of death's twilight kingdom 
The hope only 
Of empty men. 
V 
Here we go round the prickly pear 
Prickly pear prickly pear 
Here we go round the prickly pear 
At five o'clock in the morning. 
Between the idea 
And the reality 
Between the motion 
And the act 
Falls the Shadow 
For Thine is the Kingdom 
Between the conception 
And the creation 
Between the emotion 
And the response 
Falls the Shadow 
Life is very long 
Between the desire 
And the spasm 
Between the potency 
And the existence 
Between the essence 
And the descent 
Falls the Shadow 
For Thine is the Kingdom 
For Thine is 
Life is 
For Thine is the 
This is the way the world ends 
This is the way the world ends 
This is the way the world ends 
Not with a bang but a whimper.