Frank Corcoran

irish composer

CODSWALLOP LOGICO – PHILOSOPHICUS

” Non fui. Fui. Non sum. Non curo. ” Four lines. These.

That’s what he chiselled on his tombstone.( Was he still alive during this chiselling activity ‘s what I’d just like to know…. ? – Lying as he chiselled ? As he lay there ? )
His disembodied voice from his grave bravely claims” Non Sum “- so why believe his blythe ” Non Curo” , I ask myself . No answer because he’d chiselled ” Fui” ( therefore “Non sum ” ? – Is that it ? ) But then he boasts ” Non sum ! ” , so his following on ” Non curo” now has just lost ‘im every atom of our respect; inded we are tempted to react angrily with our very own ” Non curo ,CULO !”. After all, we can all easily assert ” Non fui” – so what’s great about that ? – That out of his( bleated ) ” Non fui” emerges his ( bloated ) ” Fui “. Ever heard of Miss non Sequitur, grave chiseller ? And how can he go about proving that his hurled ” Non curo” is not empty ? His grave is not empty. His swan’s song is all ended ?
And yet. And yet. That grave( ouch ! ) courage ,that hurled challenge to Who ? These three Promethean syllables do have something grave ( ouch ! again )…. Their ” 0 ” and their ” u ” and then their” oo ” .
Vocal music. Grave music. Well now, suppose he’d got just a little more poetic symmetry into his tombstone dirge, something like eg.
” Non fui. Fui. Non sum. Sum. Non curo. Curo. ” – Or some such ? – we write it out in a verse:
” Non fui. Sum. Non sum. Curo. Culo.”
More chiselling later….

Posted under: Humble Hamburg Musings

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