To a Few Cherries
By W.S. Merwin
Peter and I are up where the branches
sink and swing out underfoot as though they
were not anchored and with the lightest breeze
the limb one hand is holding pulls away
like someone being called but we go on
reaching higher into the leaves where they
shimmer against the light toward a dark one
set among them for the sweetest they say
are those highest up and now the season
is over the last are the best and we
are eating more as we climb drunk on you
laughing but old Delsol warns us from down
below Don’t trust that tree until we leave you
untasted for all the rest of the story
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Morning was a Robert Picardo article and a bunch of news bullets and an attempt to answer comments; afternoon was a hike at Scott's Run along the Potomac, the dropping off the van to be serviced; evening was dinner, laundry and the season finale of Rome. Again it was a crazy-November 60 degrees, which clearly had to be spent at least in part outdoors. Last year we went to Scott's Run on Halloween, so there were more leaves and more color -- there were still some reds among the browns but a lot of the golds and yellows are gone. In the evening going to drop off the van, Venus was high in the cloudless sky and Mars lower -- the moon wasn't up yet, it was clear and still and gorgeous with the remnants of the sunset clinging to the horizon. Moments like this can make any day perfect for a few minutes.
I deliberately have tried out not to find out anything about the historical Vorenus or Pullo, I wanted to be unspoiled for the things I could on Rome because we all knew what was going to happen in the Caesar storyline, even though my recollection of history is hopelessly corrupted by Shakespeare and this isn't exactly literal history -- I sat there for a couple of episodes, going, "Brutus is too young! Where's his wife? How come his mother is the one pulling the strings?" when it is quite possible this is how history records it really happened or it's quite possible that, like the hot lesbian sex, the HBO writers pulled it out of their butts. I realized halfway through the finale that they were planning a cliffhanger of sorts -- oh, not totally, I figured they were obligated to defuse the smoking gun of Niobe's baby and to kill Caesar -- but it was obvious they did not have time for Antony to turn the crowd, for Servilia and Atia to end their catfight and all the rest.
I was pretty happy with where they ended it, though not at all happy about Niobe -- not only because it's terribly sad for her, for him, for them, for their family, but because if there's a moral of the story it seems to be that one mistake can bring about not only your own death but an assassination while your husband is distracted, a great many years later. I couldn't be happy for Pullo about Eirene because really, she isn't a lot better off now than she was as a slave -- she may be free to choose, but she still can't seem to choose anyone besides the man who stole her happiness at the same time he gave her freedom. But none of this is really resolved yet -- Vorenus hasn't figured out what he's going to do about the child, Antony hasn't even begun making plans, and I'm afraid I'm not going to be sorry when Brutus gets what's coming to him no matter what forces led him there. Eesh, I'm tired and I should talk about this more when I'm awake and can be coherent.
Had some stuff happen that put me off reading most of my flist for the weekend. Not Harry Potter stuff, but I decided it was probably a better idea if I skipped some of that, too...yeah, I'm shallow, I really loved the movie. I really loved POA, too. COS nearly put me to sleep, with the exception of the scenes with Snape, Lockhart and Lucius Malfoy, but it was the film of SS that got me to read the books, so no one is ever going to hear me renounce movieverse or its adaptations or changes, even though, obviously, some of them are more questionable than others and some will irk certain viewers more than others depending on who our favorite characters are, which scenes moved us the most in the books, which themes we think are the real meat of the series, etc. I am not sure if I will see the movie again before seeing it on the IMAX at the science center in Harrisburg over winter break (lots of distractions in the meantime -- Brokeback Mountain, Syriana, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and King Kong), so I may have said everything I have to say right at the moment, anyway.
Here, from October 31, 2004, the same scenario. As you can see from the clothing, this was also a warm day for the season.
And here, from November 1, 2003, a blurred yet colorful photo because I forgot to change the camera settings. Younger son proceeded to fall into the creek and we had to drive him home drenched.
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