The Outsider Appendix (Part IV)

This is a continuation. To start at the beginning of the appendix, click here.
To read the original poem, click here here.

V. DUSTY DEATH

Part V recalls the three recurring ages of Roman antiquity: the long-past Golden Age, the Silver Age in which we now live (see Professor Gainsworth’s books), and the coming descent into the soulless Iron Age.

318-320. Cf. Psalms 77:16-18.

325. Cf. “Song of Myself,” Whitman.

327. The mind, too, is like dead ashes. I heard that somewhere.

335. Hilary’s conquest of Mt. Everest. See line 357. After he and Norgay took pictures of themselves at the summit, the Kiwi unzipped and drained his lizard on the rooftop of the world.

339. From the Dhammapada.

360. Cf. “Self-Pity,” D.H. Lawrence.

389. Christ’s betrayal by Judas.

400. ‘al-Haqq, al-Hail, al-Hubb’ (Truth, Strength, Love). According to Earth, Wind and Fire, all these are written in the Stone. See also 410-415.

403. The spirit gives life, but the letter kills. St. Paul, perhaps, or some such fellow.

410-414. The Eightfold Path of Buddha’s dharma.

417. More about the uncountable Purusha can be found in the Purusha Suktam. Verses 13-14 are especially significant:
From his mouth came forth
The men of learning
And of his arms
Were warriors made
From his thighs came
The trading people
And his feet gave
Birth to servants.
Of his mind, the moon is born
Of his gaze, the shining sun
From his mouth, Thunder and Fire
And of his life’s breath,
The whistling wind
Space unfolds
From his navel
The sky well formed
From his head
His feet, the earth
His ears the Quarters
Thus they thought up
All the worlds

425. I do not know the pen behind this charming little tune. I first heard it from Ryan Charter upon his kindergarten graduation.

426. Cf. Verlaine, Sagesse, Bk. 3, vi.

432. The net of jewels, in which every jewel contains the reflection of all the others. Representative of the ten thousand things.


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