To Sleep
By John Keats
O soft embalmer of the still midnight,
Shutting, with careful fingers and benign,
Our gloom-pleas'd eyes, embower'd from the light,
Enshaded in forgetfulness divine:
O soothest Sleep! if so it please thee, close
In midst of this thine hymn my willing eyes,
Or wait the "Amen," ere thy poppy throws
Around my bed its lulling charities.
Then save me, or the passed day will shine
Upon my pillow, breeding many woes,—
Save me from curious Conscience, that still lords
Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a mole;
Turn the key deftly in the oiled wards,
And seal the hushed Casket of my Soul.
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I had a great many things to get finished on Monday, but I got started late because of the Queen. I slept too late for the state funeral, but I watched the procession and the service at Windsor, which, based on the bits I saw later from the Westminster Abbey, is probably just as well, since the committal service seemed more personal and intimate. I also loved the hearse arriving covered with the flowers tossed by people lining the route, many of which I assume were from their own gardens, like the ones on the Queen's casket. I kept watching until the commercial-free broadcast ended and afternoon shows started, at which point I ate lunch.
Eventually I got laundry done as well as various other chores, and in the late afternoon we went to get haircuts, after which we took a walk and had pizza for dinner. Someone had recommended the LOTR fan film Born of Hope, about Aragorn's parents, made on a shoestring budget so it looks more like Robin of Sherwood than a Peter Jackson epic but it has several female characters and is very well edited, definitely worth the 1:10 to watch. We also watched the first episode of the new Quantum Leap, which has some flaws but I enjoyed the callbacks to the old one. Turtles at Annmarie Garden, including the two live ones in the visitor center:
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