I've just changed the name of my illustrious blog. The original was "Alone and Palely Loitering" as this was the phrase which sprang to mind so often when I was very ill with ME - in fact the first three verses altogether expressed my forlorn condition very well:
Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
And no birds sing.
Oh what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel's granary is full,
And the harvest's done.
I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
I hardly know any poetry, actually, but somehow this one attached itself to me at that time. But now... well, now I'm trying my best to recover from the illness, having been taught something called The Lightning Process (not the Lightning Rod, as one dear friend miscalls it!). I learnt this in Bath about six months ago, and although the effect was not lightning-quick as it is for so many fellow-sufferers, still I think I am making some headway; so the title "alone and palely loitering" now seems inappropriate for one who intends to leave that state forever and move on to better things.
"Arise ye, Knights!" is much more the spirit I want to cultivate within myself and comes from a poem about Sir Galahad.
