(References to man-on-man sex, in very plain language, will slide by every now and then, and I swear a whole fucking lot. I realize that the posting is also astoundingly long, complex, peculiar, and deeply passionate. Still, I plead: Gentles, do not reprehend. / If you pardon, we will mend.)
Once again, my plans for a day’s postings have been utterly defeated through an accident of experience — in this case, what happened to be playing on my night-time Apple Music when I arose very briefly for an old man’s piss break just after midnight on Monday (4/18).
Bright and, oh Jesus, joyous. (Joy is a huge thing in my life, right up there with playfulness and sexual pleasure.) Solid Baroque. Oh, in English, and it seems to be about happiness. Must be Henry Purcell; bright joy was one of his musical things, and he did it magnificently, again and again. (A moment’s pause here to express gratitude for a world that has Purcell in it.)
Yes, of course, The Fairy Queen (or as Purcell had it at the time, The Fairy-Queen; just to note that these fairies might be playful, but they’re also creatures of power). Specifically, the ravishing “They shall be as happy as they are fair”. (In fact, the adjective ravishing came unbidden along with the music, so it’s a morning name for Monday. The adjective puckish would certainly have been à propos, but that didn’t come to me until much later in the day.)
Now: there’s the title of this posting, from Gilbert & Sullivan. Then, after dwelling some more on Purcell I’ll go on to Jeremiah Clarke, Mendelssohn, and Shakespeare, wrapping up with the gay musical Were the World Mine as a bonus — plus a whole lot of stuff about my life along the way.
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