MS-HRC-SB-4-2-4

[0106] The grain, now what do I mean by that, I mean...(hesitates)...
I suppose I mean those things worth having when all the dust
has - when all my dust has settled.[0107] I close my eyes and try and
imagine them.
[0108] Long pause.

[0110] Extraordinary silence this evening, I strain my ears and do
not hear a sound.[0111] Old Miss McGlo^me always sings at this hour.
[0112] But not tonight.[0113] Songs of her girlhood, she says.[0114] Hard to think
of her as a girl.[0115] Wonderful woman though.[0116] Conna^cht, I fancy.
[0117] (Pause.)[0118] Shall I sing when I am her age, if I ever am?[0119] No.
[0120] (Pause.)[0121] Did I sing as a boy?[0122] No.[0123] (Pause.)[0124] Did I ever sing?
[0125] No.

[0126] Pause.
[0127] Have just been listening to an old year, passages at random.
[0128] I did not check it in the book, but it must be at least ten or
twelve years ago.[0129] At that time I think I was still living on
and off with Bianca, in Street.[0130] Well out of that, Jesus
yes^![0131] Hopeless business.[0132] (Pause.)[0133] Not much about her, ^{apart from} a trib-
ute to her eyes.[0134] Very warm.[0135] I suddenly saw them again.[0136] (Pause.)

[0137] Incomparable![0138] (Pause.)[0139] Ah well...[0140] (Pause.)[0141] These old P.M.s are
gruesome, but I always find ^them - (He switches off, broods,
switches on again.) - a great help before embarking on a new...
(hesitates)...retrospect.[0142] Hard to believe I was ever that young
whelp.[0143] The voice![0144] Jesus![0145] And the aspirations![0146] (Brief laugh in
which Krapp joins.)[0147] And the resolutions!

[0148] (Brief laugh in which
Krapp joins.)[0149] To drink less, of all things![0150] (Brief laugh of
Krapp alone.)[0151] Statistics.[0152] Seventeen hundred hours, out of the
preceding eight thousand odd, consumed on licensed premises alone.
[0153] More than 20%, say 40% of his waking life.[0154] (Pause.)[0155] Plans for
a less...(hesitates)...engrossing sexual life.[0156] Last illness of
his father.[0157] Flagging pursuit of happiness.[0158] Unattainable laxation.

[0159] Sneers at what he calls his youth^{, and thanks to God that it is over -}[0161] ^{false ring.}[0163] Shadow of the ^{opus magnum}
.[0164] Closing with a ^- (brief laugh) - yelp to Provid-
ence.[0165] (Prolonged laugh in which Krapp joins.)[0166] What remains of
all that misery?[0167] A girl in a shabby green coat, on a railway-
station platform?[0168] No?
[0169] Pause.

[0170] When I look - [0171] Krapp switches off, broods, looks at his watch
and goes backstage into darkness. [0172] Ten seconds. [0173] Pop of cork. [0174] Ten
seconds. [0175] Pop of second cork. [0176] Ten seconds. [0177] Pop of third cork.
[0178] ^Ten seconds. [0179] Brief burst of quavering song.

[0181] Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh-igh,
Shadows -

[0182] Fit of coughing. [0183] He comes back into light, sits down, wipes
his mouth, switches on, resumes his posture.
- back on the year that is gone, with what I hope is perhaps
^{a glint} of the old eyes to come, there is of course the house
on the canal where mother lay a-dying, in the early autumn, after

[0184] - back on the year that is gone, with what I hope is perhaps
^{a glint} of the old eyes to come, there is of course the house
on the canal where mother lay a-dying, in the early autumn, after