“Eyes That Last I Saw in Tears”

Eyes that last I saw in tears
Through division
Here in Death’s dream kingdom
The golden vision reappears
I see the eyes but not the tears
This is my affliction

This is my affliction
Eyes I shall not see again
Eyes of decision
Eyes I shall not see unless
At the door of death’s other kingdom
Where, as in this,

The Eyes outlast a little while
A little while outlasts the tears
And hold us in derision.

“New Eyes “

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” 

T.S. Eliot’s poetry is called Modernism, rejecting trends of the 19th century. The thoughts are fragmented in free verse with multiple points of view, often contradictory. I love both of these poems.

I loved “New Eyes” before I understood what it meant. It just drew me in, and I felt it was necessary. I am not saying that today I know what it means, but many things seem to fit.  

We see ourselves differently when we look back at our li,ves and the experienced perspective lets us see the trip as if it was the first time we understood it.

I think our lives will seem very different when we reach the end and look back.  All we have explored, learned, and done will change us. We will see the whole of it differently than we did when we experienced the parts. The beginning and all related circumstances of that beginning and what followed will be clear for the first time.

A similar Quote

"The real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust

T.S. Eliot Quote

“If you’re not over your head, how do you know how tall you are?”