Tuesday, August 2, 2011

A minor correction of my borrowing from T.S. Eliot

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.



Thus begins "Burnt Norton", number 1 of T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets".  So it was pointed out by my dear friend from Surf City USA, Nelson Horn.  I mistakenly remembered the "present" as "contained".  Had Nelson not corrected me, I'm certain my other "old" (meaning "long-time", not ancient) buddy, Brian Fay, who's written an entire book about certain aspects of the banker-bard's emotional life, would have done so, in good time.


Those are lovely opening lines, whether present in the poem, or merely contained therein.  And fortunate is a man who has friends like Nelson and Brian, in the present, the past, and hopefully, present in time future.

No comments:

Post a Comment