Monday, May 25, 2015

Don't Let It Be Forgot

ARTHUR:
Each evening, from December to December,
Before you drift to sleep upon your cot,
Think back on all the tales that you remember
Of Camelot.
Ask ev'ry person if he's heard the story,
And tell it strong and clear if he has not,
That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory
Called Camelot.
Camelot! Camelot!
Now say it out with pride and joy!

TOM:
Camelot! Camelot!

ARTHUR:
Yes, Camelot, my boy!
Where once it never rained till after sundown,
By eight a.m. the morning fog had flown...
Don't let it be forgot
That once there was a spot
For one brief shining moment that was known
As Camelot.

~ Camelot (Reprise), lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner from the Broadway Musical, Camelot

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

The Wedding of St George and Princess Sabra

The legend of St George closely mirrors that of Perseus and Andromeda, with a dragon replacing Medusa and Princess Sabra filling in as the damsel-in-distress. I stumbled across the above picture last week and was immediately drawn to it. I was happy to discover that it is by my beloved Dante Gabriel Rossetti, although the backstory behind the painting makes me sad. Painted in 1857, Rossetti continued this series with another painting in 1862 with his wife, Lizzie Siddall, sitting for Princess Sabra only days before she overdosed on laudanum. 

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Chills the Lap of May

And thus the heart will break, yet brokenly live on.
~Lord Byron, from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

But winter lingering chills the lap of May.
~Oliver Goldsmith, from The Traveller