By Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The face of all the world is changed, I think,
Since first I heard the footsteps of thy soul
Move still, oh, still, beside me, as they stole
Betwixt me and the dreadful outer brink
Of obvious death, where I, who thought to sink,
Was caught up into love, and taught the whole
Of life in a new rhythm. The cup of dole
God gave for baptism, I am fain to drink,
And praise its sweetness, Sweet, with thee anear.
The names of country, heaven, are changed away
For where thou art or shalt be, there or here;
And this... this lute and song... loved yesterday,
(The singing angels know) are only dear,
Because thy name moves right in what they say.
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I spent a perfectly delightful Tuesday with Dementordelta, largely uninterrupted by my children because although it's spring break, Adam had slept over at a friend's house and was there till 4 p.m., while Daniel downloaded Portal 2 in the morning and spent pretty much the entire day playing it. Delta and I got up and went out to Best Buy to get The King's Speech on DVD, then came back to my house and watched it with Tom Hooper's commentary on, plus the special features, the highlights of which for me were Lionel Logue's grandson saying that according to his grandfather's diaries, a BBC broadcaster told George VI, "I suppose you'll be making this speech by television soon, sir," and the King turned to Lionel and said, "You'll have to be under the table, then, Logue," plus noting that his grandfather died just a year after the King as Lionel "was kind of ready to go, like an old happily married couple."
Then, since we were on a roll, we watched the documentary Britain's Nazi King?, plus Geoffrey Rush's The Tailor of Panama and Colin Firth's Where the Truth Lies (courtesy the awesome S. Faith). Is there any other Oscar winning actor who has played as many canonically gay characters as Colin -- and that's not even counting films like Dorian Gray and the two St. Trinian's movies, not to mention the fact that David Seidler thinks Colin's interpretation of The King's Speech is Brokeback Mountain in the Palace. After Delta finally had to go home, my family watched Glee, which only barely held my interest even musically but made me howl with the Wallis Simpson reference -- I don't even like Gwyneth Paltrow but after Britain's Nazi King, having her discuss Wallis as a transgendered Nazi sympathizer made me howl though the show is about as sensitive to transgendered people as it is to, oh, Jews, Asians, and anyone who isn't one of its white boys. Here are some zoo photos from the weekend:
I was very sad to hear about the deaths of Elisabeth Sladen and Grete Waitz -- the former in particular because The Sarah Jane Adventures is my favorite of all New Who spinoffs and she seemed like a really lovely person as well as performer, but I remember watching Waitz winning marathons all through my teens as well. Hope people are coping with the various insane weather in various parts of the U.S. all right.
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