For we are not yet there, you know,
although it seems like months have passed
we've got another mile to go
and then one more, one more... at last
upon some distant future day
we'll reach the place where we can say:
"We did it! Now we have arrived!
And most of us are still alive
after silent passages
through the tedium of time
alone." We'll dwell in warmer climes
after long March ravages.
But first slow April's patient flowers
must bloom and bend within their bowers.
Alludes to the "Long March" disaster that forms part of the mythology of the modern Chinese dictatorship. Also alludes to the opening of "The Waste Land" (and by implication, "Canterbury Tales") although obviously much more hopeful in theme than Eliot's great work.
