Manuscript and Transcription of "For Proust, II"

"For Proust, II." "1960." Ink, pencil, draft paper. Four pencil sketches.

The following transcription represents how a printed text based on the manuscript revisions might appear.

The future? Nothing—nothing. 

At best, a shoddy ticking

For the beds of tradesman.

Lately, though, of an afternoon

I have taken to falling asleep

In this my clothing.

I dream, of course, of the past, as a rule:

It’s precious dust writhing

<Along>

<Within> Down an amber ray. 

I am wakened by my breathing

Harsh with [terror of] <the> energies

I had mistaken for my own.