Reading Matters
Page-turners
I feel dispirited
by the current epidemic.
Chin up, I am told
but it’s academic.
I need some bright reading
to forget about Covid,
so I ignore for the moment
Sophocles and Ovid.
I considered a book
called I Promessi Sposi , ***
a Christmas present
from my Auntie Rosie.
It’s purported to be a story
not of killers or gangsters
but of the troubled love
of two Italian youngsters.
Then, lo and behold,
the novel is not vague
in describing the events
of the Great Milan plague.
It was a literary device
that the author employed
but it was just the topic
that I’d wished to avoid.
It had been a page-turner
and the writing was splendid
but at the mention of pestilence
my interest soon faded.
It was now time to switch
to a more contrasting style
and find some narrative
that could produce a smile.
Bertie Wooster and Jeeves,
of whom Wodehouse wrote,
to this venomous virus
are the right antidote.
© Luigi Pagano 2020
*** The Betrothed
© ionicus 2023
Views: 839
Just the light verse the doctor ordered for the situation we are in, Luigi. I work in the public health field and have been getting ready for this situation all my working life but must admit it has worn thin even for me. Getting ready to work non-stop 6 day work weeks to help out with vaccinations and increased testing.
Thanks for looking in, Ralph. I can appreciate that while the general public might be inconvenienced by this situation, it must be much more difficult for people on the front line.
Best, Luigi