Poem for Saturday

Sonnet
By John Masefield

Let that which is to come be as it may,
Darkness, extinction, justice, life intense
The flies are happy in the summer day,
Flies will be happy many summers hence.
Time with his antique breeds that built the Sphynx
Time with her men to come whose wings will tower,
Poured and will pour, not as the wise man thinks,
But with blind force, to each his little hour.
And when the hour has struck, comes death or change,
Which, whether good or ill, we cannot tell,
But the blind planet will wander through her range
Bearing men like us who will serve as well.
The sun will rise, the winds that ever move
Will blow our dust that once were men in love.

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I went looking for the exact title of the Masefield poem quoted in the Star Trek episode I was reviewing, "The Ultimate Computer" (it's "Sea-Fever" with a hyphen -- "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by"), and I came across Masefield's sonnets, and this one made me think of tonight's Doctor Who so there you have it.

Have had a very kid-ful couple of days, which poor had to be right in the middle of...she got to witness younger son in full meltdown mode Thursday night, and Friday I dragged her to his class puppet show! We did have a lovely lunch before that (seafood -- macademia-crusted scrod, does it get any better than that) and did some writing, and she apparently survived being in the house with Rosie and Cinnamon who were most indignant at being shut out of her room and yowled piteously at some ridiculous hour of the morning. The puppet show was actually hilarious -- seven short dramas, every one of them including magical animals and traveling all over the world (one family conveniently had a hovercraft in the garage, and there were dogs and rabbits that could do magic...when I asked son whether magical animals or travel was a requirement, he said no). Son narrated a play about a poodle who had a daughter who was a golden retriever and he wanted her to be a poodle, and was a puppeteer in a play about a superhero and a cockroach, but the highlight was his play about why penguins wear tuxedos, which involved being insulted by an Antarctic researcher and trading a lot of shrimp for tuxedos with the little blue penguins of New Zealand.


A scene from younger son's play Why Penguins Wear Tuxedos. The one in the middle is Super Penguin.


Another student's drama, How the Cockroach Saved the Day. My son was the puppeteer for the character on the far right, the Chief.


The kids had also made models of energy-safe houses. This is the one my son worked on with several other students, a house at the South Pole...


...complete with (of course) a penguin.

: Whoa!
1. Do you play cards? Yes, but only extremely rarely for money and then never more than a couple of bucks.
2. Do you have any rings on your hands? A silver ring on my right hand with a pentacle under the labradorite stone and my wedding ring on my left hand.
3. Would you describe yourself as innocent? Compared to what? I've never witnessed or experience torture or anything like that. And I tend to assume good things about people until they give me reason not to. If you mean in a sexual sense, though, hahahaha.
4. What do you think of chivalry? Better in movies than real life.
5. Have you seen The Thomas Crown Affair? Only the remake.

: Holiday
1. What is (or would be) your dream vacation? A year in Europe.
2. What's one thing no vacation can do without? A sufficient supply of clean underwear and socks.
3. What has been the best trip of your life so far? I can't choose between my trips to England.
4. Who was with you on that trip and what is the role of that person in your life? My husband and children, both times. Also I saw my friend Veronica in London both times.
5. What's the worst thing that can happen during a vacation? Something awful to cause it to end prematurely, like when my grandmother died while my parents and I were on a bus trip in Canada.

I was spoiled silly for the Doctor Who season finale -- it was easier months ago to decide I wanted to be spoiled rather than to watch an entire season only to be irate at the manner of losing a character to which I'd become attached. I have every intention of being spoiled for Snape's fate before reading HP Book Seven; if it's wonderful, knowing it won't ruin anything for me, and if it's a godawful nightmare I really, really need to know in advance. The Dead People Dalek army is even creepier than Inferi, and I don't think destroying the Earth to spare everyone that fate is a bad idea; Rose's is better, of course, even if it means someone has to die, and this show really does a phenomenal job of balancing the needs of the many against the needs of the one -- there is usually a piece of me that says sheesh, there are billions of lives at stake, of course it makes sense for one to die, but "Father's Day" (which had a similar thing going on) made me cry my eyes out and this one had a similar theme.

I thought when I first read about it, and I still think to some extent, that it would have been interesting if the Doctor had turned the Daleks' self-loathing against themselves instead of playing God vs. God with the Dalek emperor or whatever we're calling it -- it feels a little deus ex machina for the TARDIS to save the world, even if it requires Rose's agency. Still, the scene where he runs out pretending he'll be right back and then sends her away is just...I have no words. I am SO relieved that Sci-Fi didn't cut any of the Captain Jack moments -- I was seriously worried about it -- and I was so glad to see the Anne Droid take out a couple of Daleks! And I love, love, love the Doctor's suggestion that he and Rose could just forget the end of the world business and go somewhere else, or if not, since of course he wouldn't do that, she could at least ask. Jackie and Mickey are wonderful as always -- Jackie in particular with Rose saying she's right, her dad would have tried, after that heartbreaking scene where Rose explains that she was the girl who was with him when he died. I did grin at the Doctor's assessment of his own brilliance, likelihood of saving the world and all that, and I think I'll just leave this at that.

Have been watching Prisoner of Azkaban which we are recording off cable so we don't have to take our good copy with us on our trip. Am trying to figure out when certain jailbait actors started looking so good to me. I blame Evil Influences, who know who they are.