my thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.
"I don't think that being a strong person is about ignoring your emotions and fighting your feelings. Putting on a brave face doesn't mean you're a brave person. That's why everybody in my life knows everything that I'm going through. I can't hide anything from them. People need to realise that being open isn't the same as being weak."
- Taylor Swift
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
The Belladonna
I am the belladonna.
I can kill a man
And save a hundred;
I can grant a wretched boy
Immortality, but -
He will not drink me
Unless forced.
This poison in me,
This elixir within -
Have compassion;
I bleed,
Or
Die.
I loved the idea of both a tonic and a toxin in one; i thought it was an eloquent representation of the beautiful lady. I was also fascinated by the idea that the sole purpose of medicine is to heal, and yet we treat it with such distain.
(Have been reading the first act of Julius Caesar this morning OUT LOUD and there is a good encounter with tradesmen going out to see Caesar. Anyway, there's a pun with souls and soles).
Yes: the purpose of medicine is to heal, but probably not the purpose of medical people (doctors, surgeons and the rest).
And treating it with disdain? I take your point, Soli.
I had believed that the disdain was an expression of fear and ignorance, and even jilted love. We say we're jilted when we've lost trust and security in a particular partnership.
And medicine and the medicated? Partnership!
When the contract doesn't have traction ... then we get belladonna.
3 comments:
The last four lines of Belladonna were powerful.
And of course in the original Italian it means "beautiful lady".
So it won't be drunk unless forced!
And thinking what it might take to have its own will...
Favourite lines:
"I can kill one man
and save a hundred".
(because it was used in a medicinal context?)
Make sure "elixir" is spelt correctly too.
I loved the idea of both a tonic and a toxin in one; i thought it was an eloquent representation of the beautiful lady. I was also fascinated by the idea that the sole purpose of medicine is to heal, and yet we treat it with such distain.
i've fixed the typo!
The sole purpose of medicine?
(Have been reading the first act of Julius Caesar this morning OUT LOUD and there is a good encounter with tradesmen going out to see Caesar. Anyway, there's a pun with souls and soles).
Yes: the purpose of medicine is to heal, but probably not the purpose of medical people (doctors, surgeons and the rest).
And treating it with disdain? I take your point, Soli.
I had believed that the disdain was an expression of fear and ignorance, and even jilted love. We say we're jilted when we've lost trust and security in a particular partnership.
And medicine and the medicated? Partnership!
When the contract doesn't have traction ... then we get belladonna.
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