{"id":1021,"date":"2026-09-28T20:35:44","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T19:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/?p=1021"},"modified":"2026-11-08T18:36:37","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T18:36:37","slug":"abschied-zur-bina","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/abschied-zur-bina\/","title":{"rendered":"Abschied zur Bina"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

Abschied zur Bina1<\/a><\/sup><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
\n
\n

Im sch\u00f6nen Binagarten<\/p>\n

Wo die Lorbeeren bl\u00fchen,<\/p>\n

Sang der Kuckuck im Fr\u00fchling<\/p>\n

Mit Stimme knapp und k\u00fchn.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Im sch\u00f6nen Binagarten,<\/p>\n

In der frechen Jugendzeit,<\/p>\n

Einst troffen sich Gesellen<\/p>\n

F\u00fcr Heiterkeit bereit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Zum Nummer zweiundzwanzig<\/p>\n

Da kamen allerlei<\/p>\n

Bedeutende Personen:<\/p>\n

Ach, weh! das ist vorbei.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Verschiedene Arte Leuten\u2014<\/p>\n

Sie kamen gern besuchen<\/p>\n

Die alte schlaue Spinne<\/p>\n

Zum Thee, mit Schnapps und Kuchen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Feinschmecker manchmals kamen<\/p>\n

Zum Essen und zum Trinken\u2014<\/p>\n

Beim Leberwurst und Butterbrot<\/p>\n

Und Aquavit und Schinken.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Da troffen sich beisammen<\/p>\n

Politiker und Richter<\/p>\n

Und Diplomat und Advokat<\/p>\n

Und Schauspieler und Dichter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Der stolze Ritter Meiklejohn2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

War oftmals abgespannt;<\/p>\n

Macdonald3<\/a><\/sup> von der Inseln<\/p>\n

Davon war nicht verbannt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Es kam der alte Kauffer4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Der Spiegeleier ass,<\/p>\n

Der jung\u2019 Holl\u00e4nder Betjeman5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Der liebte Witz und Spass.6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Und traurig wie ein Witwe Vogel<\/p>\n

Blass mit Leid und Schmerz,<\/p>\n

Kam jemals Richard Jannings7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Der macht\u2019 uns immer Scherz.8<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Mit leichter Unterhaltung<\/p>\n

Und komischem Gedicht,<\/p>\n

Und mit Gel\u00e4chte und Gesang<\/p>\n

Bis helle Morgenlicht,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Man hatte nie Langweile,<\/p>\n

War immer froh darein,<\/p>\n

Mit Schnupftabak und Zigarrett,<\/p>\n

Kaffee und Burgundwein.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

War alles ganz behaglich,<\/p>\n

Grossartig und bequem;<\/p>\n

Mit kolossaler Freundlichkeit<\/p>\n

War\u2019s allzu angenehm.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

* * *<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Die h\u00f6here Herrschaften,<\/p>\n

Sie machten gern Besuch:<\/p>\n

Damen mit siedenen Str\u00fcmpfen<\/p>\n

Und k\u00f6stlichem Geruch;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Die elegantste Damen,<\/p>\n

Sie kamen alle gern:<\/p>\n

Die Schlankste und die Sch\u00f6nste<\/p>\n

Vom innern Mayfairkern.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Da kamen Herzoginnen,<\/p>\n

Korrect und wohlgesinnt;<\/p>\n

Da kamen manchmals andere<\/p>\n

Die anonyme sind.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Und kam die fromme Jenny9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Die gut verwaltet sich;<\/p>\n

Und kamen auch Dorinda10<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Und Janni Kennerlick11<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Die nette Kodringburger,12<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Die sch\u00f6ne Kamerun\u201413<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Und wegen Regenwetter,<\/p>\n

Sie trugen Gummischuhen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

* * *<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Zum Nummer zweiundzwanzig<\/p>\n

Im sch\u00f6nen Binagarten,<\/p>\n

Zustr\u00f6men nicht mehr Adel,<\/p>\n

Gibt\u2019s nichts mehr zu erwarten;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Im sch\u00f6nen Binagarten,<\/p>\n

Der Kuckuck singt nicht mehr;<\/p>\n

Da sieht man nur Kobolden14<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Die kriechen ab und her.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Im sch\u00f6nen Binagarten<\/p>\n

Der Sommer ist vorbei.<\/p>\n

Ich irre langsam und allein,<\/p>\n

Mir bricht das Herz entzwei.15<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

[T. S. Eliot]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nNotes<\/summary>\n
    \n
  1. 1.<\/a>\n

    Variant title in typescript, in Faber K44:<\/p>\n

    Festschriftgeschenck<\/span><\/p>

    Zum Geburtstag Jonny Heywald<\/p>

    2 Februar, 1939.<\/p><\/div>\n

    [\u2018Commemorative Gift: Happy Birthday Jonny Heywald\u2019]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Hayward turned thirty-four on 2 Feb. 1939.<\/p>\n

    JDH: \u2018Mr H. removed from Bina Gardens in Nov. 1938.\u2019<\/p>\n

    For a translation of this poem by Rodney Dennis (1930\u20132006), Archivist of the Houghton Library, Harvard, see Poems<\/em> II, 235\u20137.<\/p>\n

    See the poem by Heinrich Heine (1797\u20131856), \u2018Abschied von Paris\u2019 (\u2018Goodbye to Paris\u2019), the prologue to Deutschland: Ein Winterm\u00e4rchen<\/em> (Germany. A Winter\u2019s Tale), 1844, which opens:<\/p>\n

    Ade, Paris, du teure Stadt<\/p>

    Wir m\u00fcssen heute scheiden<\/p>

    Ich lasse dich im \u00dcberflu\u00df<\/p>

    Von Wonne und von Freuden.<\/p><\/div>\n

    [Farewell, Paris, you dear city<\/p>

    We must part today.<\/p>

    I leave you in abundance<\/p>

    Of delight and joy.]<\/p><\/div>\n

    TSE to Henry Eliot, 7 Feb. 1939: \u2018I may \u2026 have to send you a copy of some poems privately printed, \u201cAs were lately exchang\u2019d between several of the choicest wits\u201d to which I contributed \u2013 the printing was an afterthought. I enclose for your amusement a copy of one of mine [\u2018Abschied<\/span> von Binagarten<\/span>\u2019], written in relation to one of the wits, John Hayward, having lately moved from Bina Gardens Kensington to Chelsea.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. 2.<\/a>\n

    JDH: \u2018Sir Roderick Meiklejohn, formerly Chief Civil Service Commissioner.\u2019<\/p>\n

    Sir Roderick Meiklejohn, KBE, CB (1876\u20131962), civil servant, served from 1899 in the War Office; then in the Treasury; and from 1928 to 1939 as First Civil Service Commissioner.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. 3.<\/a>\n

    JDH note: \u2018A great bore.\u2019<\/p>\n

    Hugh Macdonald (1885\u20131958), who trained as a solicitor, went into partnership with Frederick Etchells to produce fine editions under the imprint of The Haslewood Books, 1924\u201331. His own works include England\u2019s Helicon <\/em>(1925), John Dryden: A Bibliography of Early Editions and of Drydenianae <\/em>(1939) and Portraits in Prose <\/em>(1946). JDH to TSE, 23 Feb. 1943: \u2018He\u2019s a clever, wizened civil servant \u2026\u2019<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  4. 4.<\/a>\n

    JDH note: \u2018A celebrated artist.\u2019<\/p>\n

    E. McKnight Kauffer (1890\u20131954) \u2013 christened Edward Kauffer, he took the middle name McKnight in tribute to Professor Joseph McKnight (University of Utah) who sponsored him to study in Paris \u2013 was an American artist who became famous for his graphic designs, book illustrations and posters. He lived from 1914 to 1940 in England, gaining fame for his London Underground posters; he also illustrated books and book covers. On his return to New York in 1940, his chief client was American Airlines. His partner, later his wife, Marion Dorn, was also a successful designer.<\/p>\n

    Asked in 1949 to contribute to a \u2018profile\u2019 of Kauffer, TSE wrote: \u2018I think it was at the end, or shortly after the end of the first World War that I met McKnight Kauffer, who was already, I think, better known and remarked among the younger artists than I was amongst the men of letters. He was in appearance very much the same figure that he is to-day: tall, slender and elegantly dressed, and wearing whatever he wore with a grace that would make the best of the best efforts of the best tailor. (I cannot venture to say much about his appearance, because there is said to be a facial resemblance between Kauffer and myself \u2013 at any rate, when I have asked for him at the building in which he lives, several successive porters have taken for granted that I was his brother.)\u2019<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  5. 5.<\/a>\n

    John Betjeman (1906\u201384): poet, journalist, authority on architecture. He had been taught by TSE at Highgate School in 1916. See further \u2018Ode to a Roman Coot\u2019, n<\/em>.1 (above).<\/p>\n

    In his Summoned by Bells <\/em>(1960) Betjeman recalled the time at Highgate School when he had brought himself to show TSE a collection of his manuscript poems:<\/p>\n

    And so I bound my verse into a book,<\/p>

    The Best of Betjeman, and handed it<\/p>

    To one who, I was told, liked poetry \u2013<\/p>

    The American master, Mr Eliot.<\/p>

    That dear good man, with Prufrock in his head<\/p>

    And Sweeney waiting to be agonized<\/p>

    I wonder what he thought. He never says<\/p>

    When now we meet, across the port and cheese.<\/p>

    He looks the same as then, long, lean and pale,<\/p>

    Still with slow deliberating speech<\/p>

    And enigmatic answers. At the time<\/p>

    A boy called Jelly said: \u2018He thinks they\u2019re bad\u2019<\/p>

    But he himself is still too kind to say.<\/p><\/div>\n

    Mary Trevelyan, \u2018The Pope of Russell Square\u2019, Boxing Day 1954: \u2018[TSE] is maliciously amused at [Betjeman\u2019s] choice of Books of the Year for the Sunday Times<\/em> \u2013 absurdly highbrow. \u201cOne must keep the flag flying! \u2026 But I was horrified that so many distinguished people included Betjeman\u2019s \u2018Late Chrysanthemums\u2019 in their lists \u2013 it just goes to prove that people dislike poetry.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  6. 6.<\/a>\n

    This stanza was given on a postcard from TSE (addressed to JDH at 115 Swan Court, Chelsea, SW3), dated 3 February 1939.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  7. 7.<\/a>\n

    JDH: \u2018Mr. Jennings, a notable man of sorrows & a great wit.\u2019<\/p>\n

    Richard Jennings (1881\u20131952): bibliophile and book collector (the term \u2018Jennings condition\u2019 has become a byword among book collectors); literary editor and editorialist of the Daily Mirror<\/em> (where he worked for nearly forty years until retiring in 1942); brilliant conversationalist.<\/p>\n

    TSE to Stephen Passmore, 1 Aug. 1957: \u2018I \u2026 am interested to know that you attended my old friend Richard Jennings in a medical capacity. I did not know that Jennings possessed a copy of Noctes Binanianae<\/em> in the composition of which my friend Mr John Hayward, who lived at that time in Bina Gardens and was a still closer friend of Richard Jennings, took part.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  8. 8.<\/a>\n

    This stanza was supplied by postcard, addressed to Swan Court, 3 February 1939.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  9. 9.<\/a>\n

    JDH note: \u2018Mme Roland de Margerie.\u2019<\/p>\n

    die fromme Jenny: \u2018the pious Jenny\u2019. Henriette de Margerie (1896\u20131991) \u2013 n\u00e9e Fabre-Luce (granddaughter of the distinguished banker Henri Germain, founder of Cr\u00e9dit Lyonnais; and older sister of the writer Alfred Fabre-Luce) \u2013 was married in September 1921 to the cultured diplomat Ronald Jacquin de Margerie (1899\u20131990) \u2013 a nephew of Edmond Rostand (creator of Cyrano de Bergerac<\/em>) and friend of the theologian Teilhard de Chardin \u2013 who was Secretary to the French Embassies in Belgium and Germany before serving as Counsellor at the Embassy in London, where he formed good relations with politicians including Winston Churchill. (He was later to become adviser on foreign policy to President Charles de Gaulle, and from 1962 French Ambassador to West Germany in Bonn.) The couple lived at 113 Eaton Square, London SW1.<\/p>\n

    See Roland de Margerie, Journal 1939\u20131940<\/em>, with preface by \u00c9ric Roussel (Paris, 2010): \u2018Roland de Margerie n\u2019avait pourtant rien d\u2019un h\u00e9ritier attendant tout de sa naissance dans un milieu extr\u00eamement privil\u00e9gi\u00e9. Acharn\u00e9 au travail, d\u00e9vou\u00e9 par tradition familiale et par disposition personnelle au bien public, il ne songea jamais, semble-t-il, \u00e0 un autre destin que celui de grand serviteur de l\u2019Etat.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  10. 10.<\/a>\n

    JDH note: \u2018Mrs John Maxse.\u2019<\/p>\n

    Dorinda Maxse, n\u00e9e Thorne (1910\u201388), was born in Hampstead and married Major John Maxse (son of General Sir Frederick Maxse) in 1931, at Chelsea Old Church, London. She served as a JP.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  11. 11.<\/a>\n

    JDH note: \u2018Mrs Morley Kennerly\u2019.<\/p>\n

    Jean Morley Kennerley, n\u00e9e Simpson-Baikie: wife of TSE\u2019s American editorial colleague Morley Kennerley (1902\u201385).<\/p>\n

    See Tom Faber, Morley Kennerley 1902\u20131985<\/em> (privately printed, 1985): \u2018I suspect that he was left to carry much more than his share of the routine editorial work of the firm, besides being landed with responsibility for things like advertising and promotion, which no one else was willing to handle and which would not now be regarded as part of an editor\u2019s job. Being Morley, he carried the load with uncomplaining good humour and efficiency. Most of his colleagues were prima donnas<\/em>, given to eccentric enthusiasms and fits of temperament. Morley\u2019s great value to the firm lay precisely in his lack of temperament; it lay in his unassuming loyalty, his courtesy and charm, his stability and commonsense. But his enthusiasms, though never eccentric, were also of value, and he was responsible for a whole range of delightful books, particularly books about the countryside and country pursuits, many of which live on in the firm\u2019s list as a memorial to him. When he retired from full-time publishing in 1964 he was greatly missed \u2026 More than most couples [MK and Jean] seemed to resist the ravages of time. Jean remained as vital and stylish as ever. Morley remained his tall, slim and handsome self, always immaculately dressed and with beautifully polished shoes, his posture marvellously upright \u2026 In Russell Square during the Thirties the Chairman was kept on his toes by a succession of joke cigars, firecrackers under the table, threatening letters, bogus fan-mail and such like, and in most of these now legendary pranks Morley was actively involved. But truly, one could never be in his company for long without hearing him laugh and laughing oneself.\u2019<\/p>\n

    See too Peter du Sautoy, \u2018Morley Kennerley\u2019, The Bookseller<\/em>, 9 Mar. 1985.<\/p>\n

    According to a note by Constance Cruickshank, TSE thought Morley Kennerley \u2018rather a swell\u2019.<\/p>\n

    A portrait of Morley Kennerley (c<\/em>. 1925), by Augustus John, is in the National Museum of Wales. In the TV movie Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story<\/em> (1982), Jean Kennerley was played by Zo\u00eb Wanamaker.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  12. 12.<\/a>\n

    JDH note: \u2018Mrs John Codrington.\u2019<\/p>\n

    Die nette Kodringburger: \u2018The nice Kodringburger.\u2019<\/p>\n

    Primrose Harley (1908\u201378), artist and gardener, studied at Chelsea Polytechnic and at the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing, and exhibited at the Royal Academy, the New English Art Club, and the Society of Women Artists. She was married from 1936 to 1942 to Lt-Col. John Codrington (1898\u20131991), a career soldier \u2013 serving for twenty years with the Coldstream Guards \u2013 and noted horticulturalist.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  13. 13.<\/a>\n

    JDH note: \u2018Mrs Alan Cameron better remembered as Elizabeth Bowen, a renowned writer.\u2019<\/p>\n

    Elizabeth Bowen (1899\u20131973) \u2013 Mrs Alan Cameron \u2013 Irish-born novelist; author of The Last September <\/em>(1929) and The Death of the Heart <\/em>(1938). TSE to Desmond Hawkins, 3 Feb. 1937: \u2018[Elizabeth Bowen] has a very definite place, and a pretty high one, amongst novelists of her kind.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  14. 14.<\/a>\n

    JDH note: \u2018Two High-Church curates now residing at No. 22.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  15. 15.<\/a>\n

    TSE, in an undated letter (on Criterion<\/em> writing paper) to JDH:<\/p>\n

    I thought of putting in a stanza something like this:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Der Walfisch spielte frevelhaft<\/p>

    (Ein Prosenschwergewichter)<\/p>

    Poetisch quakt\u2019 der Wasserhuhn [literally, Water-chicken] \u2013<\/p>

    Der Elefant spracht schlichter.<\/p><\/div>\n

    [The Whale played sacrilegiously<\/p>

    (A prose heavyweight)<\/p>

    The Coot quacked poetically \u2013<\/p>

    The Elephant spoke more simply.]<\/p><\/div>\n

    But on the whole perhaps it breaks the frame to introduce the fauna for the sake of the canon. I have no copy of the text. You will give me your opinion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/details>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Abschied zur Bina1 Im sch\u00f6nen Binagarten Wo die Lorbeeren bl\u00fchen, Sang der Kuckuck im Fr\u00fchling Mit Stimme knapp und k\u00fchn. Im sch\u00f6nen Binagarten, In der frechen Jugendzeit, Einst troffen sich Gesellen F\u00fcr Heiterkeit bereit. Zum Nummer zweiundzwanzig Da kamen allerlei Bedeutende Personen: Ach, weh! das ist vorbei. Verschiedene Arte Leuten\u2014 Sie kamen gern besuchen Die […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":21,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1021","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1021"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1113,"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1021\/revisions\/1113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}