till human voices wake us, and we drown

A word if you will, to Mr. Prufrock,

as he lingers by the sea:

please Sir, dare to be something other

than a pair of ragged claws, grasping

for the life you missed because

you feared to presume.

 

Presume! Those ladies in the room,

the ones that come and go like ghosts

through the corners of your mind,

the braceleted, the shawled,

the ones that pin you to those walls

with a single searching glance -

I tell you Sir, they're waiting

for that chance.

 

They're done with the tea, and the cakes,

they're tired of the poetically limp excuses

that you make. If you want someone

to sing for you, sing yourself alive.

Shake the yellow fog from your mind.

Shout from the street, Mr. Prufrock,

as you climb the stairs.

Tell the universe

that you dare.

 

---

 

Just a little something blue to contrast the last posting's pink. Don't let this image fool you - the ocean that evening, at the edge of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, was loud and fierce. This is a longer exposure made with my Hasselblad 500 C/M.

 

The references in the poem stem from T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, which has always been one of my favorite pieces of poetry.

Done