What is that sound high in the air Murmur of maternal lamentation Who are those hooded hordes swarming Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth Ringed by the flat horizon only What is the city over the mountains Cracks and reforms and bursts in the violet air Falling towers Jerusalem Athens Alexandria Vienna London Unreal

Who is the third who walks always beside you When I count, there are only you and I together But when I look ahead up the white road There is always another on…

Then spoke the thunder DA Datta: what have we given? My friend, blood shaking my heart The awful daring of a moment's surrender Which an age of prudence can ne…

O you who turn the wheel and look to windward, Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.