Mr. Apollinax by T.S. Eliot — Read

When Mr. Apollinax visited the United States / His laughter tinkled among the teacups.

I thought of Fragilion, that shy figure among the birch-trees, / And of Priapus in the shrubbery / Gaping at the lady in the swing.

In the palace of Mrs. Phlaccus, at Professor Channing-Cheetah's / He laughed like an irresponsible foetus.

His laughter was submarine and profound / Like the old man of the sea's / Hidden under coral islands / Where worried bodies of drowned men drift down in the green silence, / Dropping from fingers of surf.

I looked for the head of Mr. Apollinax rolling under a chair / Or grinning over a screen / With seaweed in its hair.

I heard the beat of centaur's hoofs over the hard turf / As his dry and passionate talk devoured the afternoon.

"He is a charming man" -- "But after all what did he mean? " --

"His pointed ears. He must be unbalanced," --

"There was something he said that I might have challenged."

Of dowager Mrs. Phlaccus, and Professor and Mrs. Cheetah / I remember a slice of lemon, and a bitten macaroon.