"Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills. It is not the effort nor the failure tires. The waste remains, the waste remains and kills."
— William Empson

January 1, 1970

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Literary criticsPoets from EnglandUniversity of Cambridge alumniAcademics from the United KingdomFellows of the British Academy
Original Language: English

Sources

"Missing Dates" (1937), line 1; cited from John Haffenden (ed.) The Complete Poems (London: Allen Lane, 2000) p. 79.