Life is very long

There will be time, there will be time
for a hundred visions and revisions
before the taking of a toast and tea

Eliot's been on my mind ever since seeing the strange sweaty man with "Life is very long" tattooed on his forearm, supposedly from "The Wasteland" but actually from "The Hollow Men." Eliot, oh Eliot, with your bizarre faux British accent, with your learnedness and your allusions, your meaningless-meaningful word-sound collages, and sorrow. Melancholy, after all, is ever the popular tone, controlled suffering the pose, poetry more elaborate than prose.