Another
weekend gone L Weekends should be longer … This one was technically an hour longer than
normal, but I’m still sleep deprived. At
any rate, sonnet 51:
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LI
Thus can my love excuse the slow offence
Of my dull bearer when from thee I speed:
From where thou art why should I haste me
thence?
Till I return, of posting is no need.
O! what excuse will my poor beast then find,
When swift extremity can seem but slow?
Then should I spur, though mounted on the
wind,
In winged speed no motion shall I know,
Then can no horse with my desire keep pace;
Therefore desire, of perfect'st love being
made,
Shall neigh--no dull flesh--in his fiery
race;
But love, for love, thus shall excuse my
jade,--
'Since from thee going, he went
wilful-slow,
Towards thee I'll run, and give him leave
to go.'
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The whole
horse thing from yesterday’s sonnet, again.
It all sounds perfect on paper J but two small points: First, posting (line 4) is not necessarily the fastest
thing you can do on a horse, you can post when trotting, which, while faster than
walking, is of course slower than cantering, which in turn is slower than galloping; second,
using spurs (line 7)—which seem to show up in every second poem with a horse in
it—is usually not necessarily a good idea (yanking the reins is even worse, even
though I have seen enough riders actually do that) (also, the whip’s mostly for
show, you don’t actually touch your horse with your whip). If you really want to be mounted on the wind (line 7), to feel no motion in winged speed
(line 8), to ride fast as desire
(lines 9 and 10), then try to achieve the one-plus-one-equals-one stage (where you
and your horse are one and the same).
When your horse is through, you’ll go as fast (or as slow) as you want, you’ll
make mighty impressive jumps, and you’ll look good making those jumps J The volta’s the but at the beginning of line 12.
More tomorrow—
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