Music for a While

Gustave Moreau, Oedipus and the Sphinx (1864)

Life would be no better than candle-light tinsel and daylight rubbish if our spirits were not touched by what has been.

—Middlemarch

Music for a while

Shall all your cares beguile.

—Purcell, song for Dryden's Oedipus

I had my faults, and would you had them, too,

But when I looked, you'd got no sense,

Or, in the shuffle, took another view,

With goals receding fast, as well you knew!

Best, I suppose, go on by trial and error.

The past recurs in leaps and jumps—

The What Has Been has earned its lumps.

Eternal Return brooking a denial,

You may correct things at your trial.

You might find solace in black bile.

You might think, Well, I never!

But this all comes from being clever!

For want of luck, make do, as ever.

There may be music for a while.

Monday, March 23, 2026

Idyssey