{"id":91,"date":"2003-10-05T11:51:30","date_gmt":"2003-10-05T19:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jokeofalltrades.com\/root\/?p=91"},"modified":"2005-03-14T06:33:00","modified_gmt":"2005-03-14T14:33:00","slug":"de-rigeur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelhoke.name\/oldblog\/2003\/10\/05\/de-rigeur\/","title":{"rendered":"de rigeur"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<em>Comme d&#8217;habitude<\/em>, I will be working late this week, and unable to gather the energy or time to write. <em>Comme d&#8217;habitude<\/em>, I turn to poetry to ease the tension. This time, circumstance would have it that I am reading Auden. I offer two to you so that you may read along with me:\n<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"verse\" cite=\"Alone by W.H. Auden\">\n<h3 class=\"poemtitle\">Alone<\/h3>\n<h4 class=\"byline\">by W.H. Auden<\/h4>\n<p class=\"stanza\">\nEach lover has a theory of his own<br \/>\nAbout the difference between the ache<br \/>\nOf being with his love, and being alone:\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"stanza\">\nWhy what, when dreaming, is dear flesh and bone<br \/>\nThat really stirs the senses, when awake,<br \/>\nAppears a simulacrum of his own.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"stanza\">\nNarcissus disbelieves in the unknown;<br \/>\nHe cannot join his image in the lake<br \/>\nSo long as he assumes he is alone.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"stanza\">\nThe child, the waterfall, the fire, the stone,<br \/>\nAre always up to mischief, though, and take<br \/>\nThe universe for granted as their own.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"stanza\">\nThe elderly, like Proust, are always prone<br \/>\nTo think of love as a subjective fake;<br \/>\nThe more they love, the more they feel alone.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"stanza\">\nWhatever view we hold, it must be shown<br \/>\nWhy every lover has a wish to make<br \/>\nSome other kind of otherness his own:<br \/>\nPerhaps, in fact, we never are alone.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"verse\" cite=\"Leap Before You Look by W.H. Auden\">\n<h3 class=\"poemtitle\">Leap Before You Look<\/h3>\n<h4 class=\"byline\">by W.H. Auden<\/h4>\n<p class=\"stanza\">\nThe sense of danger must not disappear:<br \/>\nThe way is certainly both short and steep,<br \/>\nHowever gradual it looks from here;<br \/>\nLook if you like, but you will have to leap.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"stanza\">\nTough-minded men get mushy in their sleep<br \/>\nAnd break the by-laws any fool can keep;<br \/>\nIt is not the convention but the fear<br \/>\nThat has a tendency to disappear.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"stanza\">\nThe worried efforts of the busy heap,<br \/>\nThe dirt, the imprecision, and the beer<br \/>\nProduce a few smart wisecracks every year;<br \/>\nLaugh if you can, but you will have to leap.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"stanza\">\nThe clothes that are considered right to wear<br \/>\nWill not be either sensible or cheap,<br \/>\nSo long as we consent to live like sheep<br \/>\nAnd never mention those who disappear.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"stanza\">\nMuch can be said for social savoir-faire,<br \/>\nBut to rejoice when no one else is there<br \/>\nIs even harder than it is to weep;<br \/>\nNo one is watching, but you have to leap.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"stanza\">\nA solitude ten thousand fathoms deep<br \/>\nSustains the bed on which we lie, my dear:<br \/>\nAlthough I love you, you will have to leap;<br \/>\nOur dream of safety has to disappear.\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"np\">\nNP: Slowdive, <i>When the Sun Hits<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Comme d&#8217;habitude, I will be working late this week, and unable to gather the energy or time to write. Comme d&#8217;habitude, I turn to poetry to ease the tension. This time, circumstance would have it that I am reading Auden. I offer two to you so that you may read along with me: Alone by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhoke.name\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhoke.name\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhoke.name\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhoke.name\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhoke.name\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhoke.name\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhoke.name\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhoke.name\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhoke.name\/oldblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}