"Gray lizards, those heirs of ruin, of sepulchres and desolation , glided in and out among the rocks or lay still and sunned themselves. Where prosperity had reigned, and fallen; where glory has flamed, and gone out; where beauty has dwelt, and passed away ; where gladness was, and sorrow is; where the pomp of life has been, and silence and death brood in its high places, there this reptile makes its home, and mocks at human vanity. His coat is the color of ashes; and ashes are the symbol of hopes that have perished, or of aspirations that came to naught, of loves that are buried. If he could speak, he would say, Build temples: I will lord it in their ruins; build palaces: I will inhabit them; erect empires: I will inherit them; bury your beautiful: I will watch the worms at their work; and you, who stand here and moralize over me: I will crawl over your corpse at the last."
P.387, THE INNOCENTS ABROAD by Mark Twain (Library of America, NY: 1984)
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
MARK TWAIN'S GRAY LIZARD
"Gray lizards, those heirs of ruin, of sepulchres and desolation , glided in and out among the rocks or lay still and sunned themselves. Where prosperity had reigned, and fallen; where glory has flamed, and gone out; where beauty has dwelt, and passed away ; where gladness was, and sorrow is; where the pomp of life has been, and silence and death brood in its high places, there this reptile makes its home, and mocks at human vanity. His coat is the color of ashes; and ashes are the symbol of hopes that have perished, or of aspirations that came to naught, of loves that are buried. If he could speak, he would say, Build temples: I will lord it in their ruins; build palaces: I will inhabit them; erect empires: I will inherit them; bury your beautiful: I will watch the worms at their work; and you, who stand here and moralize over me: I will crawl over your corpse at the last."
P.387, THE INNOCENTS ABROAD by Mark Twain (Library of America, NY: 1984)