UNTIDY FOR TOSCA

A lady friend came to my house unexpected, woke me up from a dead sleep, and said I looked untidy. Fair enough. There I was in my Hugh Hefner outfit, hair askew, teeth unbrushed. What is a fellow to do when woken up from a dead sleep by an unexpected visitor who bangs on the door, comes in, and is disrespectful?

The problem is I loved this lady, who was obsessed regarding my habits. I was generous to her, probably a mistake, yet she repaid the generosity after we fell apart. Quite frankly. I did not like her emotional abuse of me. She’s unhappy in her own marriage, loves another man who is in a relationship with another woman, knew I had affection for her, and spurned me. So what is one to do except move on?

It’s Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca retold.

In Puccini’s passionate opera, painter Cavaradossi is working on a portrait of the Madonna for the church of Saint Andrea. Though the painting closely resembles a beautiful parishioner there, Cavaradossi explains that it is a combination of the woman who he does not know and his own dark-haired, dark-eyed lover Floria Tosca.

ITALIAN:

Recondita armonia di bellezze diverse. È bruna Floria, l’ardente amante mia, e te, beltade ignota cinta di chiome bionde. Tu azzurro hai l’occhio. Tosca ha l’occhio nero. L'arte nel suo mistero le diverse bellezze insiem confonde: Ma nel ritrar costei il mio solo pensiero,
Ah. il mio sol pensier sei tu.
Tosca, sei tu.

ENGLISH:

What strange and lovely harmony of such different beauties. How dark is Floria, this ardent love of mine. And you, mysterious beauty, long and blond flowing tresses, how your eyes are sky-blue, Tosca's eyes are black-night. Art, too, with its many mysteries, blends all together such different beauties. But though I paint another, my only thought is you, oh, my only thought is you, Tosca, is you, is you.

My friend is dark, lanky, beautiful, and mysterious, just like Cavaradossi’s beloved Tosca. I love her totally but she wants not a bar of me.

So be it. I accept and respect her rejection. But I'm unhappy because I love her and wanted her as a mate, but it is not to be. She has made that known. I'm sorry. So we move on.

l pick myself up as I always do and hope for the best for my lovely sister, four lovely daughters, two  great nephews, and all my good friends who nourish me with all their kindness.

As gospeler John said: "Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in the darkness but shall have the light of life.

"I am he who bears witness of myself, and the Father who sent me  bears witness of me. Even in your law, it has been written that the testimony of two men is true. I am he who bears witness of myself, and the father who sent me bears witness of me."

The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.