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Virginia "The Lilacs." Autograph manuscript, 3 pages, in pencil. Versos.
The manuscript transcribed below is the first "complete" pencil draft on the versos of the entry described in Man Collecting, pp. 20-21. In their description, the editors suggest that this pencil copy, by virtue of its having "only a few varying words" which distinguish it from the fair ink copy on its rectos, might be an unneat or unclean copy Faulkner felt obliged to recopy. Actually, by keying the fair ink copy (F.I.) and the first published version from the June 1925 Double Dealer (D.D.) in a textual collation against this pencil copy, one can see that it clearly represents a distinct progressive step in the creative evolution from experimental pencil
By count, there are 30 lines in the fair ink copy containing key words or phrases altered from their appearance in the pencil draft. Of these, ten have no correlative in the Double Dealer text; another seven of the changes are only minutely different from their counterparts in the Double Dealer text; the title and two lines added originally to the fair ink copy appear almost exactly in the Double Dealer text; and ten more changes appear identically in the Double Dealer text. As a note, since Faulkner dispensed entirely with end-of-line periods in experimental versions as well as pencil and fair ink "complete" copies, their appearance in the Double Dealer version fully punctuated has not been considered collectively as alterations.
Finally, it must be emphasized that the 30 alterations in text from pencil to fair ink copies do not necessarily suggest that the fair ink copy represents the final rendition of this poem prior to its official publication; rather that the text is a further step in the development toward a finalized version.
We sit, drinking tea
Beneath the lilacs of a summer afternoon
Comfortably, at our ease
With fresh linen napkins on our knees
We are in Blighty
And we sit, we three
In diffident contentedness
Lest we let each other guess
How pleased we are
Together watching the young moon
Lying shyly on her back, and the first star
Smooth shouldered creatures in sheer scarves, that pass
And eye me queerly as they pass
One of them, my hostess, pauses near
—Are you quite all right, sir?—she stops to ask
You are a bit lonely, I fear]—You are] F.I.,D.D.
Will you have more tea? Cigarettes? No?—
I thank her, waiting for them to go
To me they are as figures on a masque
—Who?—Shot down?
Yes, shot down—Last spring—] Last spring&c.rat;] F.I.
Poor chap—Yes, his mind—] his mind&c.rat;] F.I.
The Doctor says—hoping rest will bring—
Their voices come to us like tangled rooks] to me] F.I.,D.D.
Busy with their tea and cigarettes and books
We sit in silent amity
Like a white woman
A white wanton at the edge of a brake
A rising whiteness mirrored in a lake
And I, old chap, was out before the day
In my little pointed eared machine
I knew that we could catch her when we liked
For no nymphs ran as swiftly as they could
We mounted, up and up] mounted&c.rat;] F.I. mounted, up and up,] D.D.
And found her at the border of a wood
A cloud forest, and pausing at its brink
I felt her arms and her cool breath] we felt] F.I. I felt] D.D.
A red rose on white snows, the kiss of Death
The bullet struck me here, I think
In my left breast
And killed my little pointed eared machine] machine. I watched it fall] F.I. machine. I saw it fall,] D.D.
I watched it fall, the last wine in a cup. . . .] the last wine in a cup. . . .] F.I. The last wine in a cup. . .] D.D.
I thought that we could find her when we liked
But now I wonder if we found her, it and I] if we found her, after all] F.I. if I found her, after all.] D.D.
On such a day
From hot mad bullets, or other modern way
For Science is a dangerous mouth to kiss
One should fall, I think, to some Etruscan dart
Beneath the white feet of the Oceanides] In meadows beneath] F.I. In meadows where the Oceanides] D.D.
And on such a day as this
Become a tall wreathed column; I should like to be
On some white lifting isle, an ilex tree] isle, and ilex tree] F.I.
Instead, I had a bullet through my heart] my heart—] F.I. my heart. . .] D.D.
One should not die like this
And for no cause nor reason in the world
Tis right enough for one like you to talk
Of going into the far thin sky to stalk] thin air to stalk] F.I. thin sky to stalk] D.D.
The kiss of death, you did not know the bliss] The mouth of death,] F.I.,D.D.
Of home and children and the serene
Of living, and of works and joy that was our heritage] and of work] F.I.,D.D.
[And best of all, of age]] F.I. [And, best]] D.D.
[We were too young]] F.I.,D.D.
Still—he draws his hand across his eyes—] eyes&c.rat;] F.I.,D.D.
Still, it could not be otherwise] —Still] F.I.,D.D.
Raiding over Mannheim. Youve seen] You've seen] F.I.,D.D.
The place? Then you know
How one hangs just beneath the stars, and seems
To see the incandescent entrails of the Hun
The black earth pulled us down that night] us down, that night] F.I. us down, that night,] D.D.
Out of the bullet tortured air
That was like a great black bowl of fireflies. . .] A great black bowl of fireflies. . .] F.I.,D.D.
There is an end to this, somewhere
One should not die like this] like this—] F.I.,D.D.
His voice has dropped and the wind is mouthing his words
While the lilacs nod their heads on slender stalks
Agreeing while he talks
And cares not if he is heard or is not heard] And care not if he is heard, or] F.I. Caring not] D.D.
—One should not die like this] One should not die like this—] F.I. like this. . .] D.D.
Half audible, half silent words
That hover like grey birds
About our heads
I shiver, for the sun has gone
And the air is cooler where we three
Are sitting. The light has followed the sun
From the worlds rim and I can no longer see] world's rim,] F.I.
The stirring of the pale lilacs against the lilac pale sky
—Old man—they say—when did you die?] you die?. . . .] F.I.
I hear their whisper as from a great distance—Not dead] their voices] F.I.,D.D.
He's not dead, poor chap; he isn't dead—
We sit, drinking tea
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