Looking for a song that can be 'our song' for M. F. and myself, I found out Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 had been made into a song by Rufus Wainwright. What a beautiful interpretation of the poem, I love it! Wainwright has a rather coarse voice which I'm not very fond of, but it's a negligible detail. (Naturally, as far as I'm concerned, this song is perfect for the original role. It describes very accurately the way I feel. Now I just have to wait for it to become reciprocal.)
Anyway, I wanted to write about the text.
The poem itself is very sweet. Obviously, I think this was not something that should've been published, as was to be done with the rest of his sonnets (and with Hanoch Levin's Make My Heart Tremble, which is probably worst play he's ever written. Feck it, why do you think he didn't publish it during his lifetime?) But that's besides the point. As a poem dedicated to a special person, I think W. H. must've been very happy to read it, if he read it.
What I really like about this poem is not its artistic or linguistic quality, or the message in it, because I measure the artistic quality, to a great extent, on the linguistic quality (which I cannot judge, not being able to distinguish between words indicating archaism and words indicating a rich vocabulary) and the message (which is not a very practical one). Besides, I find the transition from misery to joy is rather abrupt and too late.
So, what is it that made me like the poem so much? Simply put: honesty. The poem really brings out Shakespeare's honest emotions for W. H.. One can sense that he's not trying to write something excessively poetic, without superfluous, cheesy descriptions.
Again, this is not something that should've been published. This was something only W. H. should've read; it was no-one else's business, neither was it mine. But who cares? Shakespeare's dead now, and I managed to make practical use out of it. (Rachel, Rabikovich, and all the rest still are not off the hook. They did publish their works, and they are much inferior in quality to Shakespeare's.)
There is a Hebrew proverb describing this: me'az yatsa matok (stress on the final syllable in all three words). It literally means 'from bold came out sweet', referring to a lion killed by the biblical Samson, in whose body a beehive was created. I think it's quite suiting.
(And no, I haven't forgotten: ceterum censeo Meam She'arim Benem-Barakque esse delendas.)
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