THIS MORTAL COIL

“To sleep perchance to dream…” - William Shakespeare, “Hamlet”

“To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause: there's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life;”

'Mortal coil' is a poetic term that means the troubles of daily life and the strife and suffering of the world. It is used in the sense of a burden to be carried or abandoned, most famously in the phrase “shuffled off this mortal coil” from “Hamlet”. Apropos, I feature the eighties British pop group “This Mortal Coil”

The track “Song to the Siren”, originally written by Tim Buckley, is sung by Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins; it was released as a single and brought the “It’ll End in Tears” (1984) album to prominence. The music is considered Goth, as the songs have been described as haunting and harrowing, yet ultimately uplifting or even timeless.

Song to the Siren

On the floating, shipless, oceans
I did all my best to smile
Till your singing eyes and fingers
Drew me loving into your eyes.
And you sang
"Sail to me, sail to me,
Let me enfold you.
"Here I am, here I am
waiting to hold you.
Did I dream you dreamed about me?
Were you here when I was full sail?
Now my foolish boat is leaning,
Broken lovelorn on your rocks.
For you sang
"Touch me not, touch me not,
Come back tomorrow."
Oh my heart, oh my heart shies from the sorrow.
I'm as puzzled as a newborn child.
I'm as riddled as the tide.
Should I stand amid the breakers?
Or shall I lie with death my bride?
Hear me sing:
"Swim to me, swim to me,
Let me enfold you.
"Here I am, Here I am, waiting to hold you."

TWELFTH NIGHT 2015

“O mistress mine, where are you roaming? O, stay and hear; your true love’s coming.” - William Shakespeare ‘Twelfth Night’ (2.3.39-40)

January the 5th is the 11th Day of Christmas and the Twelfth Night of Christmas: Tradition has it that Christmas celebrations are to end today and decorations should be taken down on this day.  However, a sprig of holly should be retained in the house to protect the occupants against lightning.

Twelfth Night celebrations were once very popular and traditionally, this night was one of the merriest in the Christmas season.  Twelfth Night parties were held everywhere, ostensibly to celebrate the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem, however, many of the traditions surrounding the Night’s celebrations were pagan in origin.

A Twelfth Night cake was baked and a single bean was hidden in it.  The person who found it in his piece became the Bean King for the Night.  This tradition hails back to the Roman Saturnalia where a King was chosen by lot.  The bean was a sacred seed in ancient times.  A pea was sometimes baked in a cake in order to choose a Twelfth Night Queen, also.  These cakes have now merged with the tradition of the Christmas Cake and the Christmas Pudding (the latter which may contain the silver sixpence to determine the lucky one amongst its consumers: Compare this with the Vasilopitta the Greek New Year’s cake that contains the lucky coin).

At the Twelfth Night party, it was customary to draw cards, on which were represented certain stock pantomime-like characters, exemplifying humorous national traits, for example, Farmer Mangelwurzel, François Parlez-Vous and Patrick O’Tater.  People had to act out the part of their chosen character and also submit to the humorous “commands” of the Bean King. Much laughter, good humour, fine food and drink were expended on these occasions.

Twelfth Night

Snow-happy hicks of a boy’s world –
O crunch of bull’s eyes in the mouth,
O crunch of frost beneath the foot –
If time would only remain furled
In white, and thaw were not for certain
And snow would but stay put, stay put!

When the pillar-box wore a white bonnet –
O harmony of roof and hedge,
O parity of sight and thought –
And each flake had your number on it
And lives were round for not a number
But equalled nought, equalled nought!

But now the sphinx must change her shape –
O track that reappears through slush,
O broken riddle, burst grenade –
And lives must be pulled out like tape
To measure something not themselves,
Things not given but made, but made.

For now the time of gifts is gone –
O boys that grow, O snows that melt,
O bathos that the years must fill –
Here is dull earth to build upon
Undecorated; we have reached
Twelfth Night or what you will... you will.
Louis Macneice (1907-1963)

Illustration is: David Teniers the Younger: “Twelfth Night (The King Drinks)”. c. 1634-1640. Oil on canvas. 58 x 70 cm. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain.

SONG SATURDAY - BERLIOZ

“Death is a delightful hiding place for weary men.” – Herodotus

A delicious song from Song Saturday from the pen of Hector Berlioz, being inspired by William Shaekespeare. It is “La Mort d’ Ophélie” – Ophelia’s Death, his opus 18/2, sung perfectly by Cecilia Bartoli and accompanied faultlessly and sensitively by Myung-Whun Chung on the piano.





“There is a willow grows aslant a brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;
And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element: but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death…”

MAYDAY

“Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.” – Victor Hugo

Today is Mayday, traditionally a day associated with the welcoming in of Spring. In many countries this was the day when people had a holiday, going out into the fields enjoying nature and when the young lads and lasses flirted with each other, their courting mimicking the couplings of the rest of the animal kingdom. Shakespeare in his play “As You Like It”, has this to say:

It was a lover and his lass —
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey-nonny-no —
That o'er the green cornfield did pass
In springtime, the only pretty ring-time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.

Between the acres of the rye —
With a hey, and a ho, and hey-nonny-no —
These pretty country folks would lie
In springtime, the only pretty ring-time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.

This carol they began that hour —
With a hey, and a ho, and hey-nonny-no —
How that a life was but a flower
In springtime, the only pretty ring-time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.

And therefore take the present time —
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey-nonny-no -
For love is crowned with the prime
In springtime, the only pretty ring-time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.

The holiday from work on Mayday assumed a rather more serious purpose in the 19th century and this was the observance of Labour Day in many countries around the world. International Workers’ Day commemorated on May 1st is for the people involved in the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago, Illinois. As the culmination of three days of labour unrest in the USA, the Haymarket incident was a source of outrage and admiration from people around the globe. In countries other than the United States and Canada, residents sought to make May Day an official holiday and their efforts largely succeeded. In some European countries, working people continue to use May Day parades as an opportunity to show disapproval with the government or to protest cuts in social programs. Although May Day received its inspiration from the United States, the U.S. Congress designated May 1 as Loyalty Day in 1958 due to the day's appropriation by the Soviet Union. Alternatively, Labor Day traditionally occurs sometime in September in the United States.

“Mayday” is also the international distress call which is used by ships and aircraft on radio when life-threatening emergencies strike them. It has nothing to do with the 1st of May, but rather is the phonetic spelling of the French words for “help me”.

Mayday |ˈmāˌdā| (also mayday) exclamation
an international radio distress signal used by ships and aircraft.

Noun: a distress signal using the word “Mayday”: We sent out a Mayday | [as adj. ] a Mayday call.
ORIGIN 1920s: representing a pronunciation of French m'aider, from venez m'aider ‘come and help me.’

TWELFTH NIGHT

"O Mistress mine, where are you roaming? O stay and hear! your true-love’s coming." Shakespeare

Today is Epiphany Eve and Twelfth Night, tomorrow being Twelfth Day. As Epiphany Eve was associated with the arrival of the Magi, in many countries children expected to be left gifts in their shoes or stockings. In Italy, an ugly but kind witch, called La Befana, came and distributed sweets and presents to the good children. In Syria, children were brought presents by the smallest of the Magi’s camels. This is because according to tradition, the other two camels lost their determination and strength on the way to Bethlehem and they were about to give up. The smallest camel, however, refused to give up and was rewarded by Jesus with immortality for its belief in Him.

The Twelfth Night of Christmas: Tradition has it that Christmas celebrations are to end today and decorations should be taken down on this day. However, a sprig of holly should be retained in the house to protect the occupants against lightning. Twelfth Night celebrations were once very popular and traditionally, this night was one of the merriest in the Christmas season. Twelfth Night parties were held everywhere, ostensibly to celebrate the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem, however, many of the traditions surrounding the Night’s celebrations were pagan in origin.

A Twelfth Night cake was baked and a single bean was hidden in it. The person who found it in his piece became the Bean King for the Night. This tradition hails back to the Roman Saturnalia where a King was chosen by lot. The bean was a sacred seed in ancient times. A pea was sometimes baked in a cake in order to choose a Twelfth Night Queen, also. These cakes have now merged with the tradition of the Christmas Cake and the Christmas Pudding (the latter which may contain the silver sixpence to determine the lucky one amongst its consumers.

At the Twelfth Night party, it was customary to draw cards, on which were represented certain stock pantomime-like characters, exemplifying humorous national traits, for example, Farmer Mangelwurzel, François Parlez-Vous and Patrick O’Tater. People had to act out the part of their chosen character and also submit to the humorous “commands” of the Bean King. Much laughter, good humour, fine food and drink were expended on these occasions.

Here is a scene from Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”, with Feste’s Song (just be a little patient!):



O Mistress Mine

O Mistress mine where are you roaming?
O stay and hear! your true-love’s coming
That can sing both high and low;
Trip no further, pretty sweeting,
Journeys end in lovers’ meeting—
Every wise man’s son doth know.

What is love? ’tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What’s to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies no plenty,—
Then come kiss me, Sweet-and-twenty,
Youth’s a stuff will not endure.

William Shakespeare (1564–1616)