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Thursday 17 May 2012

As Europe sinks in a sea of red ink, I am reminded of Camelot


I am reminded of a scene in Camelot, which is very sad, as Guinevere and Arthur have a moment of honesty and pathos in the midst of Guinevere's sinful life with Lancelot. The scene reveals a love, which if embraced by Guinevere, could have rescued her life and that cohesion of the Round Table. I saw Camelot on stage and to me, this scene was a key to the understanding of the difference between real love and sexual passion. Passion and greed have ruined Europe, as have other irrational movements of men and women, who, like Guinevere only care about their own lives and not the lives of the community, the whole. Like Guinevere, who did not control her passions and who let her private satisfaction ruin the Kingdom, we are facing a generation of selfishness and narcissism ruin nations. The lesson is the same over hundreds of years-personal sin brings disaster. A community, a church, a nation, a state, a continental government cannot stand without sacrifice of personal interests.

What do the simple folk doTo help them escape when they're blue?The shepherd who is ailing, the milkmaid who is glumThe cobbler who is wailing from nailing his thumb
When they're beset and besiegedThe folk not noblessly obligedHowever do they manage to shed their weary lot?Oh, what do simple folk do, we do not?
I have been informed by those who know them wellThey find relief in quite a clever wayWhen they're sorely pressed, they whistle for a spellAnd whistling seems to brighten up their day
And that's what simple folk do, so they sayThey just whistle?
What else do the simple folk doTo pluck up the heart and get through?The wee folk and the grown folkWho wander to and fro
Have ways known to their own folkWe throne folk don't knowWhen all the doldrums beginWhat keeps each of them in his skin?
What ancient native customProvides the needed glow?
Oh, what do simple folk do?, Do you know?
Once, upon the road, I came upon a ladSinging in a voice three times his sizeWhen I asked him why, he told me he was sadAnd singing always made his spirits rise
So that's what simple folk do, I surmise
Arise my love, arise my loveApollo's lighting the skies, my loveThe meadows shine with columbineAnd daffodils blossom away
Hear Venus call to one and allCome taste delight while you mayThe world is bright and all is rightAnd life is merry and gay
What else do the simple folk do?They must have a system or twoThey obviously outshine us at turning tears to mirthHave tricks a royal highness is minus from birth
What, then, I wonder, do theyTo chase all the goblins away?They have some tribal sorcery you haven't mentioned yetOh, what do simple folk do to forget?
Often, I am told, they dance a fiery danceAnd whirl 'till they're completely uncontrolledSoon the mind is blank and all are in a tranceA violent trance astounding to behold

And that's what simple folk do, so I'm told

Really? I have it on the best authority