Dec 6

Tonight we’re typing with two hands while trying to simultaneously play the wand game with the Marschallin Cat. It’s going about as well as you’d expect. We stop, she meows. We resume, the mouse on the end of the wand is savaged, her claws get stuck in the mouse, we let go of the mouse, there’s meowing…It’s a whole cycle.

While all that’s going on, we’re also trying to drink our tea. It’s hibiscus rose tonight. We had doubts; It smells strongly of a travelling pharmacy. But it’s got sort of a liquorice taste that we like better than standard hibiscus. That goes tart quickly. The rose in this adds an interesting grace note. There’s fennel mixed in too, and it’s the strongest flavour when you smell the tea, but happily not the main one when it’s infusing.

We were right, the other night, by the way. These tea bags steep much better in a mug. The quilted cats are out again (they’ve served us loyally through several calendars) and it’s half full of very red tea that tastes a bit of roses and a bit of liquorice.

Speaking of roses…The other day we brought you a sonnet we thought was part of a longer poem but wasn’t. Tonight have an excerpt from a longer poem that we thought was a poem in it’s own right.

Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal
Alfred Lord Tennyson

Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white;
Nor waves the cypress in the palace walk;
Nor winks the gold fin in the porphyry font.
The firefly wakens; waken thou with me.

Now droops the milk-white peacock like a ghost,
And like a ghost she glimmers on to me.

Now lies the Earth all Danaë to the stars,
And all thy heart lies open unto me.

Now slides the silent meteor on, and leaves
A shining furrow, as thy thoughts in me.

Now folds the lily all her sweetness up,
And slips into the bosom of the lake.
So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip
Into my bosom and be lost in me.

Though, since you ask, we know this better as part of a Vaughan Williams song cycle. It’s got five parts, and this is neither the most famous nor the most memorable. Remind us, and we’ll dig out that one for you, too.