Several friends have asked me to show them Shakespeare's sonnet 73 because they do not have access to it. Well, that is strange; I was given to understand that every home should bear a copy of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets, a Bible, and all of the Peanuts cartoons where Snoopy imagines his dogself to be the Red Baron flying his Sopwith Camel. Well, I am flattered that I have been asked, for the sonnet and so here it is:
Sonnet 73
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
It would not, nor should not, take much trouble to reach an understanding of what theme this sonnet is about. It's about the loss of one's youth and life, like a burning fire, eventually is ravished by old age. I am certainly not claiming that this is the only interpretation of this magnificent poetry. There are as many explanations as there are scholars to analyze it. But they are all wrong, and I am right.
In the first quatrain (four lines) the poet reminds the loved one that he is in the "winter" of his life when the "yellow leaves" have fallen. In the second quatrain the poet states that he is in the "twilight of life--like a sunset which is gone by "black night". (Aw come on--you can figure out what black night is all about) The final quatrain claims that his life is now in the embers of a fire and will soon be consumed by the ashes. The last couplet reminds the lover to see and understand the poet's closeness to "black night" and so must strengthen the bonds of love before his coming death. I will tell you that this is a simplistic analysis; I have much more to say about it than this, but I am too busy trying to develop an entertaining musical, and an entertaining interpretation of the sonnet must wait.
.....Casting the musical which I titled "43!" is coming along. There are some new talent who moved into the community, and they will certainly enhance the show. If I can get CDs of the show, I will send them out to friends and relations. Unfortunately the theatre is being renovated, so we can't get in there to begin rehearsals...and we certainly are going to need rehearsals. Well, enough about the show. We have put down a deposit at the Westchester Country Club's banquet hall for the 28th of February birthday party I'm to have. Ten years ago I had my 80th there. It'll be an extravaganza with plenty for our guests to eat and drink. So hold the date. Who knows? You may get an invitation. I did not want a big party, because I don't like being in the middle of a place with a lot of people. Rh+ however, philosophized that you're only 90 once. Yeah; if you can reach 90 and I'm not there yet. If I do get there, I'll be amazed; then I might as well go for 100. That's like Don Quixote trying to reach the unreachable star. Maybe I'll get to be the oldest WWII vet alive. Then they'd have to award me the Medal of Honor even though I have two of the highest combat medal the Navy awards--the DFC.
.....Speaking of birthdays, my virtual reality cousin, Ruth Grimsley, just had a birthday a couple of days ago. I don't know how old she is, you never ask a lady her age or how much she weighs. Nevertheless, I do hope she had a happy birthday; she keeps my spirits up one way or another. Speaking of spirits, I have kept mine up by thinking of, not my life, but the lives of my children, and recently I thought about my son, Joel's, life. He was a bright student in school, he played Little League baseball and was a great base stealer. He picked apples one year in the summer; he graduated from Cornell; he went to Australia and was a teacher there; he worked on a kibbutz in Israel and wrote a book about that experience--so he was an author as well. JR also spent 20 years or so in the CIA, and when he retired he went to work for a software company and kept an "office" in his basement. Now he is the Vice President of that company and he has offices in a new building. Now consider that he is over 60 (!) and is the captain and manager of a 55+ champion soccer team. And, oh yes, I almost forgot, he married a beautiful girl, Barbara, and has two grown children, Adam and Hannah. Now that has been quite an industrious, exciting, and noble life. He has made me proud and a grandfather. I have three more "kids" and I will get to them eventually.
........Well, finally the Grand Old Party buckled somewhat so that the job of keeping America on an even keel got somewhat done. The Tea Party wing of the Republican Party is ripping it apart in their imbecilic frenzy to get rid of a black president. If there is anyone who doubts that racism still exists in this country, well then it is a black mark on our democracy. Democracy? Not much left of what the founding fathers envisioned. What we have is a plutocracy or oligarchy; not much difference. No doubt I might not live long enough to witness the people of this country taking charge of America at the ballot boxes. For unless we do, the Lilliputians and Blefscudians will be running this country at the behest of the Yahoos.
..........Right now, I'm recovering from my sixth fall! Yes, I have fallen for one reason or another--no doubt from carelessness primarily. So I'm left with two broken hips and a lot of ripped skin. I am subject to the ignominy of not being able to walk without the aid of a "walker" which I hate. Every time I use it, I am reminded of how I ran two marathons and flew 60 missions in WWII aerial combat. I flew with barely a scratch from enemy submarines, Messerschmitt's, and Japanese Zeros. (That's how I became the Red Baron). And now I'm almost housebound. RH+ drives me wherever I have to go; she is really my only friend and she is the epitome of what one can expect from a friend. That is why she is a + and not a --. Actually I do not have a single male friend in the world anymore; they've all died, and I am blessed to be able to live at least until I'm 90--and that will happen in another four months. RH+, of course, is making a BIG party for me on Feb. 28. Save the date in case you're invited.
........I am now proud of myself; I have written a musical which will be performed here on the last weekend of March. I have not only written it, but I will also direct it. So, now I join Rogers and Hammerstein and Steven Sondheim in the annals of hit musicals!
