Astride of a Grave
The below video of little Tommie Waits' "Chocolate Jesus," for my money, has an oh-so Beckettian aura surrounding it, most especially when TW does his Chaplin-esque dance-about with homemade confetti. & I reminded of Vladimir, as Estragon sleeps:
"Was I sleeping, while others suffered? Am I sleeping now? To-morrow, when I wake,or think I do, what shall I say of to-day? That with Estragon my friend, at this place,until the fall of night, I waited for Godot? That Pozzo passed, with his carrier, and that he spoke to us? Probably. But in all that what truth will there be? (Estragon, having struggled with his boots in vain, is dozing off again. Vladimir looks at him.) He'll know nothing. He'll tell me about the blows he received and I'll give him a carrot. (Pause.) Astride of a grave and difficult birth. Down in the hole, lingeringly, the grave-digger puts on the forceps. We have time to grow old. The air is full of our cries. (He listens.) But habit is a great deadner. (He looks again at Estragon.) At me too someone is looking, of me too someone is saying, He is sleeping, he knows nothing, let him sleep on. (Pause.) I can't go on! (Pause.) What have I said?" (Beckett Godot 58 A&B)
& I am reminded of why I love literature. &, as for TW, at least he does it "for the kids":
"Was I sleeping, while others suffered? Am I sleeping now? To-morrow, when I wake,or think I do, what shall I say of to-day? That with Estragon my friend, at this place,until the fall of night, I waited for Godot? That Pozzo passed, with his carrier, and that he spoke to us? Probably. But in all that what truth will there be? (Estragon, having struggled with his boots in vain, is dozing off again. Vladimir looks at him.) He'll know nothing. He'll tell me about the blows he received and I'll give him a carrot. (Pause.) Astride of a grave and difficult birth. Down in the hole, lingeringly, the grave-digger puts on the forceps. We have time to grow old. The air is full of our cries. (He listens.) But habit is a great deadner. (He looks again at Estragon.) At me too someone is looking, of me too someone is saying, He is sleeping, he knows nothing, let him sleep on. (Pause.) I can't go on! (Pause.) What have I said?" (Beckett Godot 58 A&B)
& I am reminded of why I love literature. &, as for TW, at least he does it "for the kids":
1 comment:
Down in the hole, lingeringly, the grave-digger puts on the forceps. We have time to grow old.
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