~ all the little things that make each day a miracle ~

Sunday, February 25, 2007

A swan-like end, fading in music...

~Portia in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice


Anna Pavlova

The Silver Swan Madrigal by Orlando Gibbons:
The silver swan, who living had no note,
When death approached, unlocked her silent throat.
Leaning her breast upon the reedy shore,
Thus sang her first and last, and sang no more:
"Farewell, all joys! O death, come close mine eyes!
"More geese than swans now live, more fools than wise."

To leave a place is to die a little.~French proverb

Arrivederci, amici! Adieu, mes amis!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

: (

What can I say that I haven't said before, except that the thing that scares me most when I hear you say adieu is that we shall never hear from you again.

Take care. Be well. Please keep in touch.

We love you.

Anonymous said...

I think we sang that Gibbons madrigal in college.

Anonymous said...

So long, farewell, please keep in touch, my friend.

Miz S said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Is this really the end, darling? You know how much we'll miss you.

Beverly said...

Please, please, not another swan song. Say au revoir rather than adieu, s'il vous plait.

kenju said...

Not forever, I hope!


(you may be amused to know my word verification: oinklik)

Mamacita (The REAL one) said...

Please, no.

Marie N. said...

Oh not a farewell! I wanted to tell you I tried my best to mimic the triangle pose you posted a couple of weeks ago. I was impressed with how good I felt afterwords.

Anonymous said...

(hands over ears) "la,la,la,la,la"
So, yes about geese and fools, but that's why the wise and lovely birds are so necessary. And birds starts with B and that rhymes with...
What about the rhymes???

Who will translate for us? And I don't mean just language.

Whatever. You are permanently cemented in my heart and mind. With you it is not "out of sight..."

Big Dave T said...

Again? Is it just me or does it seem like you're always running off just when my Wolverines are about to give your Spartans another spanking.

C'mon, face the music here. Stick around for another week or so.

Anonymous said...

Is this the first recorded death with dignity?

And quit that quitting. No fair.

Anonymous said...

But we are nice geese who love our swan.

srp said...

Life is hard enough without having to deal with you going away..... again... who will keep us filled with the beauty of art and literature? Who will fascinate us with rhyme?

Can we not grovel and get you to stay? Alas, how can we go on!

Anonymous said...

When friends leave, we die a little.-California proverb.

MSU gal said...

please don't go,
you add so much
beauty to blogging
and there aren't enough of us Spartan bloggers!

TulipGirl said...

I haven't come by in a while. . . now I'm sad to see you gone.

About Me

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I live on a forested mountain with my beloved husband and our large family. Less is more, except where children are concerned. My favorite pastimes are practicing yoga on my side deck, learning how to improvise on the cello, and boating into the Puget Sound with my sweetheart.