Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Words move, music moves

Words move, music moves
Only in time; but that which is only living
Can only die. Words, after speech, reach
Into the silence … Words, strain,
Crack, and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still.

T. S. Eliot, from “Burnt Norton,” section V, lines 137-153, in Four Quartets