Beatrice (Bice Portinari) (1266-1290) was the principal inspiration for one of Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s (1265-1321) greatest works, LA VITA NUOVA. Beatrice also appears in THE DIVINE COMEDY as Dante’s guide through the last few canti of Purgatory and through Paradise. Beatrice and Dante first met at a May Day party when they were children. For the rest of her life Dante was taken with her, although only one additional meeting between them has been documented, and they both married other people. Beatrice died very young, and only three years after she was married. Afterwards, Dante compiled a group of poems he had written about her into LA VITA NUOVA (The New Life).

In that book which is
My memory …
On the first page
That is the chapter when
I first met you
Appear the words …
Here begins a new life

Although their direct contacts were minimal, Dante once called Beatrice, “La gloriosa donna della mia mente” (the glorious lady of my mind).

Renowned English Pre-Raphaelite painter John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) painted “Dante and Beatrice” in 1915.

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks ….

I love to hear her speak, -- yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go, --
My mistress when she walks, tread on the ground;
…..And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
…..As any she belied with false compare.

❦ Sonnet CXXX

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Note: The beautiful rose shown above is not technically a “damask” rose, but it is a famous ancestor of the "damask" roses, a beautiful red-and-white-striped Gallica rose, well-known during Shakespeare’s time, called Rosa Mundi (Rosa Gallica Versicolor). Rosa Mundi is actually named for Rosamund Clifford (Fair Rosamund), mistress of Henry II.

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This blog shows one side of my personality, and my political blog Aero Politica, shows another side. But there's a third side as well (or as some of my friends would say, at least a third side) ... and that's my nonsense side. When I began this blog back in May, I also started another blog called Red Queen's World, to show a little bit of that side. Until today, I haven't done anything with that blog, but starting now, I'm inviting you over to share a little nonsense and fun from time to time.

I have a couple (well, more than a couple) alter egos. One is Red Queen, a character from Lewis Carroll's novella THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS. Another is Fortune Cookie, an itinerant fortune teller of sorts. To be sure, Fortune Cookie does not pretend to operate at the level of Fairweather Lewis's Madame Sadie. Fortune Cookie just loves her Ouija Board, her horoscope, and her ... fortune cookies. In particular, she loves the "fortune cookie game." For those who are unfamiliar, you play this game by cracking open the fortune cookie, extracting the fortune, reading it aloud among friends (or even perfect strangers, if so inclined), and then at the end finishing the fortune with the words ... "in bed."

My all-time favorite example of how this game works was:

“Speed is no substitute for accuracy ….”

But I think you'lll find that almost any fortune will do. If you click this link, you'll see what I mean. While you're there, be sure to take a vocabulary lesson and experience a "deep thought." I hope you enjoy the visit, and that you'll come back on a regular basis.

I don't love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire.
I love you as one loves certain obscure things,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

~ Pablo Neruda

Let us live in the land of whispering trees,
Alder and aspen and poplar and birch,
Singing our prayers in a pale, sea-green breeze,
With star flower rosaries and moss banks for church ....

~ Elizabeth Bishop