Conrad Aiken

The House of Dust Conrad Aiken

THE HOUSE OF DUST PART I. I. The sun goes down in a cold pale flare of light. The trees grow dark: the shadows lean to the east: And lights wink out through the windows, one by one. A clamor of frosty sirens mourns at the night. Pale slate-grey douds whirl up from the sunken sun. And the wandering one, the inquisitive dreamer of dreams, The eternal asker of answers, stands in the street, And lifts his palms for the first cold ghost of rain. The purple lights leap down the hill before him. The gorgeous night has begun again. (I will ask them all, I will ask them all their dreams, I will hold my light above them and seek their faces. I will hear them whisper, invisible in their veins . . . ' The eternal asker of answers becomes as the darkness, Or as a wind blown over a myriad forest, Or as the numberless voices of long-drawn rains. [II}

Table of Contents

CONTENTS; PART I; I; II; Ill; IV; V; VI; VII; VIII; PART II; I; II THE FULFILLED DREAM; III INTERLUDE; IV NIGHTMARE ?; V RETROS"PECT ; VI ADELE AND DAVIS; VII Two LOVERS: OVERTONES; VIII THE Box WITH SILVER HANDLES; IX INTERLUDE; x SUDDEN DEATH ?; XI; Page; II; 20; 32; 33; 37; 38; 40; 42; 45; 49; 52; 54; 58; CONTENTS; PART III; I; II THE SCREEN 1-IAIDE~ ?; III HAUNTED CHAMBERS; IV ILLICIT; v MELODY IN A RESTAURANT ?; VI PORTRAIT OF ONE DEAD; VII PORCELAIN; VIII COFFINS: INTERLUDE; IX CABARET ?; x LETTER; XI CONVERSATION: UNDERTONES ?; XII WITCH ES' SAD BATH; XIII; PART IV; Page; 6g; 70; 74; 76; 79; 83; 86; 89; 96; 99; 113; I CLAIRVOYANT 114; n DEATH: AND A DERISIVE CHORUS 116; III PALIMPSEST: A DECEITFUL PORTRAIT 119; IV COUNTERPOINT: Two ROOMS 132; v THE BITTER LOVE-SONG 135; VI CINEMA 138; VII 146

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