Ruminatrix
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Tuesday, May 27, 2003
...Saw No Sun
Bad weather (20 mph out of ESE and gusting, heavy rain setting in, small craft advisory) prevented our passage from Brick Cove to Coecles yesterday. Still got a bunch of dockside tasks done, and loved it. And had a great dinner of asparagus, grilled weakfish stuffed with lovage, salad, followed by rhubarb pie. Brunched on crab-cakes at the Frisky Oyster in Greenport.
Also got to know Chidiock Tichborne's single known work, his elegy "written in the Tower on the eve of his execution":
My prime of youth is but a frost of cares,Not bad for an eighteen year-old about to be hanged, drawn and quartered for treason. Now I have go to work. Maybe next time Theo can come along and she'll bring better weather.
My feast of joy is but a dish of pain,
My crop of corn is but a field of tares,
And all my good is but vain hope of gain.
The day is past, and yet I saw no sun,
And now I live, and now my life is done.
My tale was heard and yet it was not told,
My fruit is fallen and yet my leaves are green;
My youth is spent and yet I am not old,
I saw the world and yet I was not seen.
My thread is cut and yet it is not spun,
And now I live, and now my life is done.
I sought my death and found it in my womb,
I looked for life and saw it was a shade;
I trod the earth and knew it was my tomb,
And now I die, and now I was but made.
My glass is full, and now my glass is run,
And now I live, and now my life is done.