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The Bluest Eye (Excerpt: ”Hid Like Thieves From Life”) Lyrics by Toni Morrison

The Bluest Eye

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And the years folded up like pocket handkerchiefs. Sammy left town long ago; Cholly died in the workhouse; Mrs. Breedlove still does housework. And Pecola is somewhere in that little brown house she and her mother moved to on the edge of town, where you can see her even now, once in a while. The birdlike gestures are worn away to a mere picking and plucking her way between the tire rims and the sunflowers, between Coke bottles and milkweed, among all the waste and beauty of the world--which is what she herself was. All of our waste which we dumped on her and which she absorbed. And all of our beauty, which was hers first and which she gave to us. All of us--all who knew her--felt so wholesome after we cleaned ourselves on her. We were so beautiful when we stood astride her ugliness. Her simplicity decorated us, her guilt sanctified us, her pain made us glow with health, her awkwardness made us think we had a sense of humor. Her inarticulateness made us believe we were eloquent. Her poverty kept us generous. Even her waking dreams we used--to silence our own nightmares. And she let us, and thereby deserved our contempt. We honed our egos on her, padded our characters with her frailty, and yawned in the fantasy of our strength.
And fantasy it was, for we were not strong, only aggressive; we were not free, merely licensed; we were not compassionate, we were polite; not good, but well behaved. We courted death in order to call ourselves brave, and hid like thieves from life. We substituted good grammar for intellect; we switched habits to simulate maturity; we rearranged lies and called it truth, seeing in the new pattern of an old idea the Revelation and the Word. She, however, stepped over into madness,a madness which protected her from us simply because it bored us in the end. Oh, some of us "loved" her. The Maginot Line. And Cholly loved her. I'm sure he did. He, at any rate, was the one who loved her enough to touch her, envelop her, give something of himself to her. But his touch was fatal, and the something he gave her filled the matrix of her agony with death. Love is never any better than the lover. Wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly, but the love of a free man is never safe. There is no gift for the beloved. The lover alone possesses his gift of love. The loved one is shorn, neutralized, frozen in the glare of the lover's inward eye.
Credits
Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison

About “The Bluest Eye (Excerpt: ”Hid Like Thieves From Life”)” by Toni Morrison

Read the complete lyrics to "The Bluest Eye (Excerpt: ”Hid Like Thieves From Life”)" by Toni Morrison from the album "The Bluest Eye". On Lyrks you can follow along with the full text, explore the artist's discography, and discover related songs. The track is often categorized under Non-Music, Literature.

"The Bluest Eye (Excerpt: ”Hid Like Thieves From Life”)" is performed by Toni Morrison. from the album "The Bluest Eye" This page provides the full lyric text for fans who want to sing along, study the songwriting, or compare versions across releases. Lyrks organizes lyrics by artist and song slug so you can bookmark and share a stable URL. Music lyrics help listeners connect with emotion, narrative, and rhythm in a track. Whether you are learning English, researching a favorite chorus, or preparing for karaoke, having accurate line breaks and section labels (verse, chorus, bridge) makes the experience easier. We link to the official artist profile on Lyrks where available, including biography snippets, top songs, and chart placements when we have that data. If you enjoy "The Bluest Eye (Excerpt: ”Hid Like Thieves From Life”)", explore more songs by Toni Morrison using the links below. Chart and trending pages on Lyrks highlight what listeners are searching for this week. For copyright or correction requests, see our DMCA and contact pages.

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"The Bluest Eye (Excerpt: ”Hid Like Thieves From Life”)" is credited to Toni Morrison. Songwriting credits may include additional writers listed on the release; check the credits section on this page for linked collaborators.

"The Bluest Eye (Excerpt: ”Hid Like Thieves From Life”)" appears on "The Bluest Eye".

Visit the Toni Morrison artist page at /artist/toni-morrison for biography, popular tracks, and links to more lyric pages.