Strange how certain snippets get stuck in the head. For me it’s a piece from The Wasteland by T.S. Elliot –
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter
Just those two lines out of a longer passage that finishes with another haunting line –
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.