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| Copyright@ 2013 Catherine Rodgers Giussani |
Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day,
And make me travel forth without my cloak,
To let base clouds o'ertake me in my way,
Hiding thy bravery in their rotten smoke?
'Tis not enough that through the cloud thou break,
To dry the rain on my storm-beaten face,
For no man well of such a salve can speak
That heals the wound and cures not the disgrace:
Nor can thy shame give physic to my grief;
Though thou repent, yet I have still the loss:
The offender's sorrow lends but weak relief
To him that bears the strong offence's cross.
Ah! but those tears are pearl which thy love sheds,
And they are rich and ransom all ill deeds.
Shakespeare's Sonnet 34 appeared in my inbox today. It interprets the complex and sometimes conflicting emotions involved in the stressful decision of the "do I stay or do I go now" variety. Literature helps us interpret for better or for worse our choices. It does not make us more morally grounded as discussed in today's New York Times blog post but it sure goes along way in giving voice to what we cannot seem to express alone. That is a dialogue worth sharing.
Five months of continuous but unexpected and inexplicable cold, rainy days have brought given me ample time to reflect on the future. Yes, that is an oxymoron but on May 26 I was wearing the goose-down coat for sub-zero temperatures because and I do not exaggerate, 55°F in mid-May "feels like" windchill factor 32°F, making it seem like the hemispheres have flipped. It is a hard time for the meteo-pathologicaI.
Just having seen the movie "Silver Linings Playbook" starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence about a couple who rebuild their lives after traumatic loss and its consequent antisocial behavior, the poem also made me think of those who weather the storm of your ups and downs and how this process brings out the true beauty in the "ruins" of personal achievement.
Just like the bricklayers who made the towers of the Roman Empire, little credit is given to those who simply hold on when times are trying.
The movie is a rough cut but does get to the core of social ills. If the weather is enough to get most of us down how can we possibly see the legacy before us of what we build with our lives intertwined with others?
