The Lovers’ Chronicle 15 October – imagine, reprise – birth of Virgil

The Lovers’ Chronicle 15 October – imagine, reprise – birth of Virgil – art by James Tissot

15 October 2023 By Rhett 0 In Love, Poems, Random, Songs

Dear Zazie, Here is today’s Lovers’ Chronicle from Mac Tag dedicated to his muse. Who do you think of in the still of the night? Rhett

The Lovers’ Chronicle

Dear Muse,

in the still night,

thoughts of you

holdin’, bodies entwined

kissin’ this and that of you

whatever means

will always sing, you

here is the answer,

long thought lost

this feelin’, here

in your arms

the what-is-it comes over

partin’ flesh and the thrill

of under me, you

i carry with me

i am never without it

whatever is done

is your doin’

and it is you,

whatever always means

and whatever

will always sing, is you

here is the answer,

long thought lost,

and this is the wonder

i can carry again

this feelin’, here

bein’ in your arms

so many memorable
moments from the road

the photographs,
the scenery, the music,
the sight
of the sun and wind
in your hair

stoppin’ whenever
the scene and the light
are in alignment

that night, headed west
on i-20, when we noticed
we could see Orion
through the open moon roof

but mostly, the music

your teasin’ me
as i sing along
with those old
country songs

our classic rock duets,
like an epic rendition
of Open Arms
and the songs,
Unchained Melody
comes to mind,
that inspire carnal pit stops

ready for the next one

i remember
first smiles,
first kisses
last words
and farewells
i remember
beauty and sorrow

remember
when you said
imagine
i want to
and i try
but
it has been so long

imagine…
on a road trip
music turned up
moon roof wide open
long stretch of wide open
two lane black top

my hand restin’
on the gear shifter
of a sudden
a hand rests on mine
i turn to look at you
in wide wonder

i pull over
and turn to you
words fail
but a tear
tells the tale

if i could just write
one line worthy of you…

borne as best could
you, who so well know
unquestionably
the only topic

equally, beyond doubt;
the truth, the passion
the path chosen

depend upon it, after all
there is no seducin’ me
from the path

ah, this will be a struggle
hell, since when is it not

all i want to do
is write good
verse for you
and i cannot
even do that

Coleporter On this day in 1964, composer and songwriter Cole Porter died in Santa Monica, California. He wrote many wonderful songs it was hard to choose just one for the SOD.

The Song of the Day is Frank Sinatra‘s version of Porter’s song, “In the Still of the Night”.

In the still of the night, that is what I think of; you. Carryin’ your heart and you leanin’ back in my arms. My body when it was with your body. Kissin’ this and that of you. The what-is-it comes over partin’ flesh and the thrill of under me, you.

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Virgil
Depiction of Virgil, 3rd century AD (“Monnus-Mosaic”, Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Trier)

Today is the birthday of Publius Vergilius Maro (near Mantua, Cisalpine Gaul; October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC Brundisium), usually called Virgil or Vergil in English; Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid. Virgil is traditionally ranked as one of Rome’s greatest poets. His Aeneid has been considered the national epic of ancient Rome from the time of its composition to the present day. Modeled after Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the Aeneid follows the Trojan refugee Aeneas as he struggles to fulfill his destiny and arrive on the shores of Italy, which in Roman mythology, is the founding act of Rome. Virgil’s work has had wide and deep influence on Western literature, most notably Dante’s Divine Comedy, in which Virgil appears as Dante’s guide through hell and purgatory.

Verse

Aeneid (29–19 BC)

Book I

Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris
Italiam fato profugus Laviniaque venit
Litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto
Vi superum, saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram,
Multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem
lnferretque deos Latio, genus unde Latinum
Albanique patres atque altae moenia Romae.

Arms, and the man I sing, who, forced by Fate,
And haughty Juno’s unrelenting hate,
Expell’d and exil’d, left the Trojan shore.
Long labours both by sea and land he bore,
And in the doubtful war, before he won
The Latian realm, and built the destin’d town;
His banish’d gods restor’d to rites divine,
And settled sure succession in his line,
From whence the race of Alban fathers come,
And the long glories of majestic Rome.
Lines 1–7, as translated by John Dryden (1697).

Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso,
quidve dolens, regina deum tot volvere casus
insignem pietate virum, tot adire labores
impulerit. Tantaene animis caelestibus irae?
O Muse! the causes and the crimes relate,
What goddess was provok’d, and whence her hate:
For what offense the Queen of Heav’n began
To persecute so brave, so just a man!
Involv’d his anxious life in endless cares,
Expos’d to wants, and hurry’d into wars!
Can heav’nly minds such high resentment show,
Or exercise their spite in human woe?
Lines 8–11 (tr. John Dryden).

Dux femina facti.
- A woman leads the way.
- Line 364 (tr. Dryden).
Quis fallere possit amantem?
- Who can deceive a lover?
- Line 296.

Self-portrait in 1865

Today is the birthday of Jacques Joseph Tissot (Nantes; 15 October 1836 – 8 August 1902 Doubs), Anglicized as James Tissot; painter and illustrator. He was a successful painter of Paris society before moving to London in 1871. He became famous as a genre painter of fashionably dressed women shown in various scenes of everyday life.

In 1875-6, Tissot met Kathleen Newton, a divorcee who became the painter’s companion and frequent model. He composed an etching of her in 1876 entitled Portrait of Mrs N., more commonly titled La frileuse. She moved into Tissot’s household in St. John’s Wood in 1876 and lived with him until her death in the late stages of consumption in 1882. Tissot frequently referred to these years with Newton as the happiest of his life, a time when he was able to live out his dream of a family life.