16 July 2010

The Sudden Illumination

 (My Grandparents Kaler, 1920s)

The moments of happiness--not the sense of well-being
Fruition, fulfilment, security or affection,
Or even a good dinner, but the sudden illumination--
We had the experience but missed the meaning,
And approach to the meaning restores the experience
In a different form, beyond any meaning
We can assign to happiness

{From T.S. Eliot's The Dry Salvages}