Refer to the epigraph from the
Sibyl in Eliot's "
The Wasteland." To a woman who was granted eternal life but forgot to ask for
eternal youth, April would be the cruelest month. It would mark the coming of a new year, a chance for all of earth's creatures to be
reborn and face all the joys of the upcoming spring.
But not for the Sibyl. She must rot away inside her cage, watching the snow melt and knowing that in 365 days it will melt again. There is no escape from the cycle; she can not leave The Round. Shrouded in despair, the Sibyl laments, "April is the cruelest month."