E3: Ash Wednesday - T.S. Eliot - Part Three

T.S. Eliot - Ash Wednesday (part three) 

Originally published: 1930

Theme: The poem was written by Eliot as a result of his conversion to Anglicanism in 1927. 

 

Poem:

At the first turning of the second stair I turned and saw below

The same shape twisted on the banister

Under the vapour in the fetid air

Struggling with the devil of the stairs who wears

The deceitful face of hope and of despair.

 

At the second turning of the second stair

I left them twisting, turning below;

There were no more faces and the stair was dark,

Damp, jagged, like an old man’s mouth drivelling, beyond repair,

Or the toothed gullet of an aged shark.

 

At the first turning of the third stair

Was a slotted window bellied like the fig’s fruit

And beyond the hawthorn blossom and a pasture scene

The broadbacked figure drest in blue and green

Enchanted the maytime with an antique flute.

Blown hair is sweet, brown hair over the mouth blown,

Lilac and brown hair;

Distraction, music of the flute, stops and steps of the mind over the third stair,

Fading, fading; strength beyond hope and despair

Climbing the third stair.

 

Lord, I am not worthy

Lord, I am not worthy

but speak the word only.

 

Credits: T.S. Eliot (1930)