“At Christmas I no more desire a rose,
Than wish a snow in May’s new fangled mirth,
But like of each thing as in season grows.”
(Love’s Labours Lost, act 1, sc. 1)
I began the blog thinking of the 25th Anniversary of the American invasion of Panama, conducted on Christmas Eve (1989) – when the poorest barrios of Panama City were blessed by 400 bombs, resulting in hundreds of predictable victims. And thinking of the related facts, probably unknown to most, but indicative of a now familiar frame of imperial mind.
But, re-directing the meaning of the lines,
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work. (1)
to indicate that it’s good, from time to time, to break with the usual, I will postpone the ‘historical’ theme to another occasion.
Therefore, besides liking and suggesting to like “of each thing as in season grows”, I will quote the following lines, which, I presume, apply to all of us,
“The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill go together: our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipped them not, and our crimes would despair, if they were not cherished by our virtues” (2)
And, while thanking all the participants, readers and commentators of this blog, (and those who bought a copy of “Your Daily Shakespeare”), I send them my best wishes via the following short video (“son et lumiere”, as the French would say),
(1) King Henry IV, part 1, act 1, sc. 2
(2) All’s Well That Ends Well, act 1, sc. 3
In the play. An unspecified King of somewhere and his three companions, suddenly decide on a plan of learning, solitude and abstinence (reminiscent of George Bush’ highly unsuccessful related program). Of the three companions, only Biron disapproves. Prompted to give a reason, Biron demonstrates that the King’s premises are “flawed” – to use a current and popular Orwellian verb, that stands for “you are screwed and/or have screwed up.”