Happy Birthday to Me?

In celebration (?), here's an excerpt from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, by T.S. Eliot (1917):

I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.


Shall I part my hair behind?
Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.


I do not think they will sing to me.


And now an explanation of that poem from The Long Goodbye, by Raymond Chandler (1953):

" 'I grow old... I grow old... I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.' What does that mean, Mr. Marlowe?"

"Not a bloody thing. It just sounds good."

He smiled. "That is from the `Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.`

Here's another one. `In the room women come and go/Talking of Michelangelo.' Does that suggest anything to you, sir?"

"Yeah -- it suggests to me that the guy didn't know very much about women."

"My sentiments exactly, sir. Nonetheless I admire T. S. Eliot very much."

"Did you say, 'nonetheless'?"