from
The Family Reunion
in
The Complete Poems and Plays 1909-1950
by T.S. Eliot
Harcourt Brace & Company

CHORUS:
In an old house there is always listening, and more is
    heard than is spoken.
And what is spoken remains in the room, waiting for
    the future to hear it.
And whatever happens began in the past, and presses
    hard on the future.
The agony in the curtained bedroom, whether of birth
   or of dying,
Gathers in to itself all the voices of the past, and
    projects them into the future.

The treble voices on the lawn
The mowing of hay in summer
The dogs and the old pony
The stumble and the wail of little pain
The chopping of wood in autumn
And the singing in the kitchen
And the steps at night in the corridor
The moment of sudden loathing
And the season of stifled sorrow
The whisper, the transparent deception
The keeping up of appearances
The making the best of a bad job
All twined and tangled together, all are
    recorded.

© Copyright Esme Valerie Eliot, 1980. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system now or hereafter invented, without permission in writing from the Publisher.