[HN Gopher] Emperor for three years: the doomed reign of Maximil...
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       Emperor for three years: the doomed reign of Maximilian I of Mexico
        
       Author : pepys
       Score  : 31 points
       Date   : 2022-01-14 03:06 UTC (19 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.spectator.co.uk)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.spectator.co.uk)
        
       | avmich wrote:
       | Nocturnal gardens under slowly ripening mangoes. Maximilian
       | dances what one day will be a tango. His shadow twirls the way a
       | boomerang does and the temperature's an armpit 98. The iridescent
       | flicker of a silver waistcoat; and a mulatto girl melts lovingly
       | like chocolate while in a masculine embrace she purrs insensate,
       | here--soft as wool, there--smooth as plate.
       | 
       | Nocturnal silence underneath the virgin forest. Juarez, now the
       | spearhead of, say, progress, to his peons who never saw two pesos
       | distributes rifles in the dark of night. Bolts start their
       | clicking, while Juarez on squared paper puts little crosses,
       | ticking off each happy taker. A gaudy parrot, one who never makes
       | mistakes or lies, sits on a bough and notes their plight:
       | 
       | Scorn for one's neighbor among those who sniff the roses may be,
       | not better, but more straight than civic poses. But either thing
       | gives quite a rise to blood and bruises. Worse in the tropics,
       | here, where death, alas, spreads rather quickly in the way flies
       | spread infection, or as a bon mot in a cafe draws attention,
       | where three-eyed skulls among the thickets rate no mention; in
       | every socket--a clump of grass.
       | 
       | Joseph Brodsky in translation,
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE3wptN-MFA
        
       | neonate wrote:
       | https://archive.is/RaEOa
        
       | JasonCEC wrote:
       | Apropos of nothing, I name all of my plants at home... my
       | personal plants are all named after Hellenistic historical
       | figures (Democritus, Herodotus, etc),
       | 
       | but when my girlfriend decided to grow an avocado tree, I named
       | him Maximilian I....
        
         | badrabbit wrote:
         | Do you talk or whisper to them or is it to introduce them to
         | friends or to other plants?
        
       | hoten wrote:
       | I've toured Chapultepec Castle a couple times, and once a tour
       | guide portrayed the story of Maximilian refusing his escape like
       | this: that he did not wish to risk getting caught without his
       | beard, as that would be dishonorable (I suppose the modern take
       | is it would be super embarrassing).
        
       | gumby wrote:
       | The Empress's standard epithet was "Mad Queen Carlota" but I
       | could never figure out why.
        
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       (page generated 2022-01-14 23:01 UTC)