syncategorematic (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
syncategorematic) wrote2010-07-19 01:50 am
syncategorematic) wrote2010-07-19 01:50 am
Entry tags:
Quiet Things I Have Missed
At midnight, we went walking for the last time in Madrid. Through Puerta del Sol, where youth gathered around the fountains, talking, laughing in multiple languages, just enjoying the night. It made me think of the movie L'auberge espagnole, and of the old rhyme,
Boys and girls, come out to play
The moon doth shine as bright as day.
Forget your supper and forget your sleep
And join your playfellows on the street.
Come with a whoop and come with a call,
Come with a good will or not at all.
Up the ladder and down the wall,
A half-penny loaf will serve us all.
That rhyme had always fascinated me, and I realized that I've missed the L'auberge espagnole experience in my early twenties, when most people do it. Aw well, there is still time, and it will still be fun if I manage my schedule well, rather than being solid and tired and all. I just cannot do such a "Boys and girls come out to play" every day, or prior to every day.
We walked all the way to the Royal Palace. There, on the courtyard that's technically behind it, a young man dressed in black, with cloak and forearm braces and combat boots, was playing a small lever floor harp. Quite well. He played "Greensleeves" while we watched. I know it sounds trite, but he was aiming for a magical experience, I know, and he just about gave one, and it wasn't to just us.
We walked back through the bright lights and patterned shadows of the city.
In my life I've had desperate crushes, for years, gradually turning, as I grew to know and work with the person better, into reliable, steady, platonic friendships, allowing for months without contact, without dreaming of the curve of his neck or how he had said this phrase or other.
I think my crush on Madrid, too, went that way.
Breakfast, last packing, and flight; this may be my last dispatch in 30 hours or more.
Boys and girls, come out to play
The moon doth shine as bright as day.
Forget your supper and forget your sleep
And join your playfellows on the street.
Come with a whoop and come with a call,
Come with a good will or not at all.
Up the ladder and down the wall,
A half-penny loaf will serve us all.
That rhyme had always fascinated me, and I realized that I've missed the L'auberge espagnole experience in my early twenties, when most people do it. Aw well, there is still time, and it will still be fun if I manage my schedule well, rather than being solid and tired and all. I just cannot do such a "Boys and girls come out to play" every day, or prior to every day.
We walked all the way to the Royal Palace. There, on the courtyard that's technically behind it, a young man dressed in black, with cloak and forearm braces and combat boots, was playing a small lever floor harp. Quite well. He played "Greensleeves" while we watched. I know it sounds trite, but he was aiming for a magical experience, I know, and he just about gave one, and it wasn't to just us.
We walked back through the bright lights and patterned shadows of the city.
In my life I've had desperate crushes, for years, gradually turning, as I grew to know and work with the person better, into reliable, steady, platonic friendships, allowing for months without contact, without dreaming of the curve of his neck or how he had said this phrase or other.
I think my crush on Madrid, too, went that way.
Breakfast, last packing, and flight; this may be my last dispatch in 30 hours or more.