Sunday, October 28, 2007

Bottoms of my Trousers Rolled

I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown


Till human voices wake us, and we drown


Last few lines of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot written in 1919


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