Dear Zazie,
Here is today’s Lovers’ Chronicle from Mac Tag.
Rhett
The Lovers’ Chronicle
that happened
often back then
“I thought it was from
personal experience”
yes, not fiction sadly
also had Escovedo’s
”Pissed Off 2 A.M.”
playin’ in my head
i was the walkin’
definition of fatigue
“Not anymore my dear”
no, so now if i wake up
at three, definitely not
pissed off, but grateful
and i roll close and fall
back asleep
© copyright 2023 mac tag/cowboycoleridge all rights
those days are past
became a matter
of unwanted routine
though it did lead
to some decent verse
myriad reasons why
all of which have been
plumbed ad nauseum
no need for a rewind
just leave it here, doin’ well
not gonna count the ways
but heap gratitude where due
© copyright 2022 mac tag/cowboycoleridge all rights reserved
© copyright 2021 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved
© copyright 2020 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved
the limit of the song
is this prelude
to the journey inward,
the penetratin’ verse,
music, art, books,
movies, good light,
the way out shaped
by you, the days
purpose themselves
as necessary, everything
here and you readin’ this
at three in the mornin’
what more to ask
© copyright 2019 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved
a promise
made a little closer
or more accurately,
a confession
wantin’ to be confirmed
an accent on the verb
we both need
it takes your breath
from my mouth
to your ear
a moment
can you hear it
a communion
where will it take us
no idea
but we should go
it is only three
© copyright 2018 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved
how can you find yourself…
paint a portrait
someone you know
someone whose attention
you cannot catch
someone you feel you understand
but certainly you cannot see
inside their complicated mind
*shrugs *
ambiguous,
mix of virtues and vices
perpetual conflict
between expectations
and what was meant to be
search and find
only to wander from
fall on base desire
faithless, false, unforgiven
everlastin’ lack thereof
amen
always
take the measure
accordin’ to the means
of satisfyin’ desires
3 a.m. thoughts
© copyright 2017 Mac Tag All rights reserved
Today is the birthday of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (Ditchley, 1 April 1647 – 26 July 1680 Woodstock); poet and courtier of King Charles II’s Restoration court. The Restoration reacted against the “spiritual authoritarianism” of the Puritan era. Rochester was the embodiment of the new era, and he is as well known for his rakish lifestyle and poetry. A few of my favorite Wilmot verses:
Lest, once more wandering from that heaven,
I fall on some base heart unblest,
Faithless to thee, false, unforgiven,
And lose my everlasting rest.
- Absent from thee, I languish still, ll. 13-16.
- Naked she lay, clasped in my longing arms,
I filled with love, and she all over charms;
Both equally inspired with eager fire,
Melting through kindness, flaming in desire.
With arms, legs, lips close clinging to embrace.- The Imperfect Enjoyment (published 1680).
- Thou treacherous, base deserter of my flame,
False to my passion, fatal to my fame,
Through what mistaken magic dost thou prove
So true to lewdness, so untrue to love?- The Imperfect Enjoyment.
- But oh, how slowly minutes roll
When absent from her eyes,
That feed my love, which is my soul:
It languishes and dies.- The Mistress: A Song, ll. 5–8.
Today is the birthday of Antoine-François Prévost d’Exiles (Hesdin, April 1 1697 – November 25 1763 Chantilly), also known as the Abbé Prévost; novelist, historian and journalist. His best-known story, L’Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut, has formed the basis of several operas, most notably Puccini‘s Manon Lescaut. One of my favorite books and operas.
J’ai à peindre…un caractère ambigu, un mélange de vertus et de vices, un contraste perpétuel de bons sentiments et d’actions mauvaises.
- The portrait I have to paint is of…an ambiguous character, a mixture of virtues and vices, a perpetual contrast between good impulses and bad actions.
- Combien trouve-t-on de déserteurs de la sévère vertu et combien en trouvez-vous peu de l’amour?
- How many deserters there are from the rigours of virtue, how few from the cause of love!
- Il faut compter ses richesses par les moyens qu’on a de satisfaire ses désirs.
- We should measure our wealth according to the means we have of satisfying our desires.
- Un cœur de père est le chef-d’œuvre de la nature.
- A father’s heart is nature’s finest work.
- Rien n’est plus capable d’inspirer du courage à une femme que l’intrépidité d’un homme qu’elle aime.
- Nothing inspires more courage in a woman than fearlessness in the man she loves.
Today is the birthday of Edwin Austin Abbey (Philadelphia, April 1, 1852 – August 1, 1911 London); muralist, illustrator, and painter. He flourished at the beginning of what is now referred to as the “golden age” of illustration, and is perhaps best known for his drawings and paintings of Shakespearean and Victorian subjects, as well as for his painting of Edward VII’s coronation. His most famous set of murals, The Quest and Achievement of the Holy Grail, adorns the Boston Public Library.
In 1890, Edwin married Gertrude Mead, the daughter of a wealthy New York merchant. Mrs Abbey encouraged her husband to secure more ambitious commissions, although with their marriage commencing when both were in their forties, the couple remained childless. After her husband’s death, Gertrude was active in preserving her husband’s legacy, writing about his work and giving her substantial collection and archive to Yale. She was a sponsor of the Survey of London.
Gallery
The Play Scene in Hamlet, 1897
King Lear, Act I, Scene I (1897-98), Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Fair is My Love
Young Woman in the Woods
And today is the birthday of Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (Marseille, 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918 Paris); poet and dramatist most famous for his fictional play Cyrano de Bergerac, based upon the life of Cyrano de Bergerac.
Cyrano de Bergerac : Eh bien ! oui, c’est mon vice.
Déplaire est mon plaisir. J’aime qu’on me haïsse.
Cyrano de Bergerac : Que dites-vous ?… C’est inutile ?… Je le sais !
Mais on ne se bat pas dans l’espoir du succès !
Non ! non, c’est bien plus beau lorsque c’est inutile !
Cyrano de Bergerac : Un baiser, mais à tout prendre, qu’est-ce ?
Un serment fait d’un peu plus près, une promesse
Plus précise, un aveu qui veut se confirmer,
Un point rose qu’on met sur l’i du verbe aimer ;
C’est un secret qui prend la bouche pour oreille,
Un instant d’infini qui fait un bruit d’abeille,
Une communion ayant un goût de fleur,
Une façon d’un peu se respirer le cœur,
Et d’un peu se goûter, au bord des lèvres, l’âme !
-
Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand, éd. Pocket, 2005, acte III, scène 10
Cyrano de Bergerac : Et voilà que je suis tué dans une embûche,
Par-derrière, par un laquais, d’un coup de bûche !
C’est très bien. J’aurai tout manqué, même ma mort.
-
Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand, éd. Pocket, 2005, acte V, scène 5
Mac Tag
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