MS-UoR-1477-5

[0021] Foley was it Foley's Folly bit of the tower still standing all
the rest rubble and nettles where did you sleep no friends all
the homes gone was it that kip on the front where you no she was
with you then still with you then only ^{just the} one night in any case off
the boat ^ferry in the ^one morning and back on her the next to look was the
ruin still there ^{where none ever came} where you hid as a child slip off when no one
was looking and hide there all day ^[sitting^] on a stone in the
middle of ^among then nettles with your picture-book

[0023] on the stone ^[the two of you^] in the sun gazing at the wheat or
seeming to nothing else to be seen from where you sat but the
wheat turning yellow and the blue sky vowing every now and again
you loved each other tears without fail till they dried up al-
together suddenly there in whatever thoughts you might ^{happen to} be having
whatever visions perhaps way back in your childhood or the womb
that was the worst of all or that old Chinaman ^long before Christ born
with the long white hair

[0025] or talking to yourself ^{who else} out loud imaginary conversations there
was childhood for you ten or eleven ^[sitting^] on a stone in the ^{among the}
middle of the ^giant nettles making it up now one voice now another
till you were hoarse and they all sounded alike well on into
the night sop^me moods in the dark or moonlight have them all out
on the roads looking for you

[0024] never the same after that never quite the same but that was
nothing new if it wasn't this it was that twice or three times
a week ^{common occurrence (as dirt)} something you could never be the same after dragging ^crawling around
year after year with your eyes on the ground in your lifelong mess
muttering to yourself who else you'll never be the same after this
you were never the same after that

[0026] or just sitting by the window in the dark listening to the owl
not a thought in your head till you began finding it hard to be-
lieve harder and harder to believe you ever told anyone you loved
them or anyone ev^er told you till it grew to be one of those things
you used to tell yourself to keep the void out just another of
those things you used to keep on telling yoursl^ee^lf to keep the
void from pouring in on top of you ^{the still (shroud)}

[0032] that time you went back to look was the ruin still there where
you hid as a child straight off the boat ^ferry and up to the main street
to catch the eleven neither right nor left only one thought in
your head not a curse for the old scenes the old faces just press
head down press on up the rise to the stop and stood there wait-
ing with the nightbag till the truth began to dawn