rewatching due South + unrelated poetry
Feb. 8th, 2012 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaI feel like I am spamming you all with posts, but hey, I'm home trying to get rid of my cold and just getting to that restless stage where I know I'm not supposed to go out and do things just yet.
So! I am rewatching due South and am up to episode 8, season 1. There are actually a lot of episodes that I have only watched once, because I'm more of a reader than a watcher. But anyway, canon fills me with love, and I am noticing little things, like the bit where Fraser is snarking at Dief and says "I only started talking to you on the ice floe out of sheer boredom. Now you've got an opinion on virtually everything." So is that the ice floe where Dief got his eardrums ruptured? Huh, there's a story in there somewhere. Also, that bit in "Chinatown" where they play Loreena McKennitt singing "Prospero's Speech" while the shop-owner walks to the mafia boss' office? Wow, that is so powerful. Probably partly because I've always loved that song/speech, but still.
Mostly I am full of love for Fraser, though. (And also lust--wow, that man is beautiful. This is not news, I know.)
Okay, so, have some random poetry! These are actually the lyrics of a song called "Till Elias" (=To Elias), written by Ronny Eriksson in the Swedish band Euskefeurat, but I translated them into English. They always put tears in my eyes--I think it's the juxtaposition of Elias' life with far-away world events in the first part of the 20th century. And there's so much ambiguity in it, too. Elias is a Swedish version of Elijah, by the way.
I never knew you, Elias
though we were born in the same country town
but from the stories that people have told
I feel like I know who you were
I have thought of you often, Elias
when I've been at my grandfather's grave
but never before have I taken the time
to stay a while by your side
But today I have thoughts to think
today I have tired legs
today I would gladly sit down for a while
and rest beside your stone
Here you lie, Elias
among the other souls
who lived for a while between birth and death
the lives that brought them here
But what life did you have, Elias
and why was your fate as it was?
I read on the stone the words that she wrote
which into the granite were hewn
"It feels like the sun has gone down
and the world is dark and cold
when your eyes do not shine anymore
Elias, my hope, my all."
You were born in '19, Elias
on the 28th of May
the same year that the treaty was signed in Versailles
and the Great War was over and done
And it was out of love, Elias
she wanted to do what was best
she wanted to spare your child's soul
from seeing the world as it was
So from morning until dark
she kept you warm and fed
there in the kitchen under the sheepskin
she sang you to sleep on her arm
Never a harsh word, Elias
your world was a kitchen scrubbed clean
and she never let visitors come inside
from the ugliness out in the world
It is said of your father, Elias
that he worked hard for your sake
but had to sleep in the stables when he was drunk
or tired and in a bad mood
Who doesn't want to see their loved one
live their life without pain?
And who doesn't want to give their loved one
thoughts of the purest gold?
You were spared the Depression, Elias
and when the Spanish war broke out
you lay in the kitchen the same as before
under your sheepskin hide
You were twenty then, Elias
in '39 when Poland fell
and it's said that she sat there beside you and held
you tight on your last living day
It is said that she stroked your forehead
when you slipped into sleep
that she felt your heart falter and stop
that she kept your gaze in hers
No, I never knew you, Elias
though we were born in the same country town
but from the stories that people have told
I feel like I know who you were
And sometimes I wish, Elias
when I have my darkest days
that I had your sheepskin to hide myself under
and wait for better times
And I wish someone would give
a love so pure and clear
because sometimes you have thoughts to think
sometimes you have tired legs
So! I am rewatching due South and am up to episode 8, season 1. There are actually a lot of episodes that I have only watched once, because I'm more of a reader than a watcher. But anyway, canon fills me with love, and I am noticing little things, like the bit where Fraser is snarking at Dief and says "I only started talking to you on the ice floe out of sheer boredom. Now you've got an opinion on virtually everything." So is that the ice floe where Dief got his eardrums ruptured? Huh, there's a story in there somewhere. Also, that bit in "Chinatown" where they play Loreena McKennitt singing "Prospero's Speech" while the shop-owner walks to the mafia boss' office? Wow, that is so powerful. Probably partly because I've always loved that song/speech, but still.
Mostly I am full of love for Fraser, though. (And also lust--wow, that man is beautiful. This is not news, I know.)
Okay, so, have some random poetry! These are actually the lyrics of a song called "Till Elias" (=To Elias), written by Ronny Eriksson in the Swedish band Euskefeurat, but I translated them into English. They always put tears in my eyes--I think it's the juxtaposition of Elias' life with far-away world events in the first part of the 20th century. And there's so much ambiguity in it, too. Elias is a Swedish version of Elijah, by the way.
I never knew you, Elias
though we were born in the same country town
but from the stories that people have told
I feel like I know who you were
I have thought of you often, Elias
when I've been at my grandfather's grave
but never before have I taken the time
to stay a while by your side
But today I have thoughts to think
today I have tired legs
today I would gladly sit down for a while
and rest beside your stone
Here you lie, Elias
among the other souls
who lived for a while between birth and death
the lives that brought them here
But what life did you have, Elias
and why was your fate as it was?
I read on the stone the words that she wrote
which into the granite were hewn
"It feels like the sun has gone down
and the world is dark and cold
when your eyes do not shine anymore
Elias, my hope, my all."
You were born in '19, Elias
on the 28th of May
the same year that the treaty was signed in Versailles
and the Great War was over and done
And it was out of love, Elias
she wanted to do what was best
she wanted to spare your child's soul
from seeing the world as it was
So from morning until dark
she kept you warm and fed
there in the kitchen under the sheepskin
she sang you to sleep on her arm
Never a harsh word, Elias
your world was a kitchen scrubbed clean
and she never let visitors come inside
from the ugliness out in the world
It is said of your father, Elias
that he worked hard for your sake
but had to sleep in the stables when he was drunk
or tired and in a bad mood
Who doesn't want to see their loved one
live their life without pain?
And who doesn't want to give their loved one
thoughts of the purest gold?
You were spared the Depression, Elias
and when the Spanish war broke out
you lay in the kitchen the same as before
under your sheepskin hide
You were twenty then, Elias
in '39 when Poland fell
and it's said that she sat there beside you and held
you tight on your last living day
It is said that she stroked your forehead
when you slipped into sleep
that she felt your heart falter and stop
that she kept your gaze in hers
No, I never knew you, Elias
though we were born in the same country town
but from the stories that people have told
I feel like I know who you were
And sometimes I wish, Elias
when I have my darkest days
that I had your sheepskin to hide myself under
and wait for better times
And I wish someone would give
a love so pure and clear
because sometimes you have thoughts to think
sometimes you have tired legs
(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-09 12:21 am (UTC)And that is a moving song. Though we'll be a long time waiting for "better days."
(no subject)
Date: 2012-02-09 02:52 pm (UTC)Though we'll be a long time waiting for "better days."
Sadly, yes. And I dunno, I don't think the song is saying that that kind of isolation is a good thing, either, just something you might long for when you're tired.