Hollow Man (Alternate Version)
from T.S. Lewis poem The Hollow Men
Adapted by Terry Taylor
©1983 Twitchen Vibes/ Paragon Music Corp. ASCAP
We are the hollow men, we are the stuffed men
Leaning together, head piece, filled with straw
Shape, without form, shade, without color
Paralysed force, the hollow men
Gesture, without motion
Those who have crossed with direct eyes
To death's other kingdom may remember us
Not as lost, violent souls
As hollow men
Only as the stuffed men, this is the dead land
This is the cactus land
Here the stone images are raised
Here is where they will receive
The supplication of a dead man's hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star
Is it like this in death's other kingdom?
Waking alone in the hour when we are trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss form prayers to broken stone
The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms
In this last of meeting places, we grope together and avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river
The hollow men
Sightless and useless the eyes reappear
As the perpetual star, multifoliate arose
Of death's twilight kingdom
The only hope
of empty men
Hollow Men
