By Sir Walter Scott
The way was long, the wind was cold,
The Minstrel was infirm and old;
His wither'd cheek, and tresses gray,
Seem'd to have known a better day;
The harp, his sole remaining joy,
Was carried by an orphan boy.
The last of all the Bards was he,
Who sung of Border chivalry;
For, welladay! their date was fled,
His tuneful brethren all were dead;
And he, neglected and oppress'd,
Wish'd to be with them, and at rest.
No more on prancing palfrey borne,
He caroll'd, light as lark at morn;
No longer courted and caress'd,
High placed in hall, a welcome guest,
He pour'd, to lord and lady gay,
The unpremeditated lay:
Old times were changed, old manners gone;
A stranger filled the Stuarts' throne;
The bigots of the iron time
Had call'd hs harmless art a crime.
A wandering Harper, scorn'd and poor,
He begg'd his bread from door to door.
And timed, to please a peasant's ear,
The harp, a king had loved to hear.
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I did a bunch of computer work on Friday morning, interrupted because the apartment complex was testing the fire alarms (I could escape outside but the cats could not). Despite a cooler forecast, the sun and humidity made it feel warmer than earlier in the week. We walked to the beach in the afternoon, where there were ducks and boaters looking up for the Blue Angels who are in town for Seafair, and we discovered new ducklings and saw a juvenile eagle. The Orioles lost a tight game to the Cubs early, and there was baseball all afternoon, culminating with a walk-off win for the Mariners.
In between, Cheryl and I watched two episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds -- the one with the Z word, which is really not my kind of episode due to the aforementioned zombies and Klingon honor but I love M'Benga so it gets a pass, and the origin of holodeck disasters, which would be a perfect episode if not for the show's fucking obsession with Mary Sue-ing every female character to persuade us that Spock Is 100% Straight!!! Paul and I just watched the enjoyable penultimate episode of Resident Alien and are now watching this week's Foundation. Performances at the Renfaire:
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