Steve Pollack wrote:

> In Prufrock, I believe we see a narrator personally confronting
> homosexuality, but scared to death about revealing it in general
> society:
>
> "Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
> And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
> Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?..."


The epigraph also hints at a secret of some sort:

    "If I thought that my reply would be to someone who would ever return
    to earth, this flame would remain without further movement; but as no
    one has ever returned alive from this gulf, if what I hear is true, I
    can answer you with no fear of infamy."

Regards,
    Rick Parker