Speech in a Chamber


It is a scent of such astonishing strength,
why, Leopold, there are flowers hidden
throughout the room. There must be for I

cannot sleep without the noise of a boquet,
and gently, gently, sir, you know
I sleep most gently in this small room.


the notes: Dimly aware of a defect that must have plagued him even in school — it...

Dimly aware of a defect that must have plagued him even in school — it amounted to a mild case of aphasia — he apologized, saying, “Officialese [Amtssprache] is my only language.” But the point here is that officialese became his language because he was genuinely incapable of uttering a single…