The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The House of Dust by Conrad Aiken: 'Three times I've asked him! He will never tell me.
God have mercy upon him. I will ask no more.'
II. DEATH: AND A DERISIVE CHORUS
The door is shut. She leaves the curtained office,
And down the grey-walled stairs comes trembling slowly
Towards the dazzling street.
Her withered hand clings tightly to the railing.
The long stairs rise and fall beneath her feet.
Here in the brilliant sun we jostle, waiting
To tear her secret out . . . We laugh, we hurry,
We go our way, revolving, sinister, slow.
|