Sempiternam

Apologies for not writing any posts recently. Sometimes it is difficult to summon up the enthusiasm, or I am tempted to give up and do something more exciting and rewarding instead. But then I can't think what else that might be.

And there is something else. As you may have noticed, if you have read some or all of the previous four hundred posts, I am not very good at writing anything particularly serious. I am the first to admit that the blog is not exactly rip-roaringly hilarious. But neither does it dwell on the sad or tragic or heart-breaking events of life. It is a problem I have always had: I am not one who will ever be able to write a misery memoir, as these things are called nowadays, or to unload the dark corners of my soul on to the unwitting general public. Instead, I try to write things which are moderately cheerful and uplifting. Whether this is to keep my readers entertained or to avoid my own unresolved internal conflicts, I don't know.

And that is the problem. Since the last post there has been a succession of events which have been sad and tragic and heart-breaking. From Nice on 14 July through to Munich last Friday and Rouen today, the world seems to be getting darker by the day.

I am listening, while I write this, to Fauré's Requiem, performed recently at the Proms. We seem to be in need of requiems.

Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem sempiternam.