Lately it’s becoming more common that I learn my body can do all sorts of neat things. Usually these things involve intense physical discomfort and/or pain. As the band struck up “As Time Goes By” and the screen faded, I found myself with a smile I’ve never smiled before, one that I cannot recreate, one that I’ve never felt in all my life and perhaps would not even recognize now. I wonder what it looked like–though I wouldn’t have seen it even in a mirror, because my eyes were teary. The ending makes the film; I guess that’s why I knew it before it showed up; how many endings can be so unhappy, yet so wonderful?
This picture of Casablanca looks like a running horse to me:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Casablanca_7.58684W_33.56662N.jpg
and “La Marseillaise” I now think is the prettiest, strongest, national anthem I’ve ever heard.
arts & fetters 