The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne
Glowed on the marble, where the glass
Held up by standards wrought with fruited vines
From which a golden Cupidon peeped out
(Another hid his eyes behind his wing)
Doubled the flames of sevenbranched candelabra
Reflecting light upon the table as
The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it
From satin cases poured in rich profusion;
In vials of ivory and coloured glass
Unstoppered, lurked her strange synthetic perfumes
Unguent, powdered, or liquid—troubled, confused
And drowned the sense in odours; stirred by the air
That freshened from the window, these ascended
In fattening the prolonged candle-flames
Flung their smoke into the laquearia
Stirring the pattern on the coffered ceiling
Huge sea-wood fed with copper
Burned green and orange, framed by the coloured stone
In which sad light a carvéd dolphin swam
Above the antique mantel was displayed
As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene
The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king
So rudely forced; yet there the nightingale
Filled all the desert with inviolable voice
And still she cried, and still the world pursues
‘Jug Jug’ to dirty ears
And other withered stumps of time
Were told upon the walls; staring forms
Leaned out, leaning, hushing the room enclosed
Footsteps shuffled on the stair
Under the firelight, under the brush, her hair
Spread out in fiery points
Glowed into words, then would be savagely still
‘My nerves are bad tonight. Yes, bad. Stay with me
Speak to me. Why do you never speak. Speak
What are you thinking of? What thinking? What?
I never know what you are thinking. Think.’

I think we are in rats’ alley
Where the dead men lost their bones

‘What is that noise?’
The wind under the door
‘What is that noise now? What is the wind doing?’
Nothing again nothing
‘Do
‘You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember
‘Nothing?’

I remember
Those are pearls that were his eyes
‘Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?’
But

O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag—
It’s so elegant
So intelligent
‘What shall I do now? What shall I do?’
‘I shall rush out as I am, and walk the street
‘With my hair down, so. What shall we do tomorrow?
‘What shall we ever do?’
The hot water at ten
And if it rains, a closed car at four
And we shall play a game of chess
Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door
When Lil’s husband got demobbed, I said—
I didn’t mince my words, I said to her myself
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
Now Albert’s coming back, make yourself a bit smart
He’ll want to know what you done with that money he gave you
To get yourself some teeth. He did, I was there
You have them all out, Lil, and get a nice set
He said, I swear, I can’t bear to look at you
And no more can’t I, I said, and think of poor Albert
He’s been in the army four years, he wants a good time
And if you don’t give it him, there’s others will, I said
Oh is there, she said. Something o’ that, I said
Then I’ll know who to thank, she said, and give me a straight look
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
If you don’t like it you can get on with it, I said
Others can pick and choose if you can’t
But if Albert makes off, it won’t be for lack of telling
You ought to be ashamed, I said, to look so antique
(And her only thirty-one.)
I can’t help it, she said, pulling a long face
It’s them pills I took, to bring it off, she said
(She’s had five already, and nearly died of young George.)
The chemist said it would be all right, but I’ve never been the same
You are a proper fool, I said
Well, if Albert won’t leave you alone, there it is, I said
What you get married for if you don’t want children?
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
Well, that Sunday Albert was home, they had a hot gammon
And they asked me in to dinner, to get the beauty of it hot—
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
Goonight Bill. Goonight Lou. Goonight May. Goonight
Ta ta. Goonight. Goonight
Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night