Sunday 13 April 2014

Tripping the Light Fantastic

HEAD DOODLING BACK

Robson Street is so fantastic.
It always makes me want to skip.
And kick my heels up -
For a bit.

Nothing drastic - or gymnastic.
Just a Trip-
The-Light
Fantastic.

Then again -
I'm rather spastic.
And really could
Just up and trip.

At my age, I could break a hip.

notes:  Robson is Vancouver's most famous shopping street set in the heart of downtown Vancouver.  Great for people watching, coffee sipping and just about anything else.  At night, the street comes alive with buskers and performers. 

"Tripping the Light Fantastic" means to dance nimbly or lightly.  It is generally attributed to Milton's poem L'Allegro, but a similar phase was used by Shakespeare in The Tempest.  It became popular in the song Sidewalks of New York in 1894.  And in 1967 the group Procol Harum included a play on the phrase in their song Whiter Shade of Pale:  we skipped the light fantango.

photo:  Robson Street Banner - W. Bourke  

© 2012 Wendy Bourke

5 comments:

  1. oh i hope you dont...ha....
    shopping...my wife might doa jig with you as well on that one...smiles
    fun piece...

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  2. Thanks, Brian. Every once in a blue moon I do feel like skipping - for a second or two. And then I remember - You aren't six, anymore. sigh.

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  3. Oh! I chuckled out loud at the last line, though, of course, I don't want that to happen to you!

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  4. Well, I chuckled out loud, also . . . as the words fell from my pen and onto the page. And, of course, I don't want that to happen to me either! Smiles.

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  5. And yet, I think you could and would keep on dancing! Smiles to you!

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