|
THE TREMBLING OF A LEAF
By Somerset Maugham
The Envoi
|
|
WHEN
your ship leaves Honolulu they hang leis round your neck,
garlands of sweet smelling flowers. The wharf is crowded and the band
plays a melting Hawaiian tune. The people on board throw coloured
streamers to those standing below, and the side of the ship is gay with
the thin lines of paper, red and green and yellow and blue. When the
ship moves slowly away the streamers break softly, and it is like the
breaking of human ties. Men and women are joined together for a moment
by a gaily coloured strip of paper, red and blue and green and yellow,
and then life separates them and the paper is sundered, so easily, with
a little sharp snap. For an hour the fragments trail down the hull and
then they blow away. The flowers of your garlands fade and their scent
is oppressive. You throw them overboard.
|