PART FIVE
THE RED PAGES
The radiant car your sparrows drew
You gave the word and swift they flew,
Through liquid air they wing’d their way,
I saw their quivering pinions play;
To my plain roof they bore their queen,
Of aspect mild, and look serene.
—Sappho, “Hymn to Aphrodite”
In the end, everything is a gag.
—Charlie Chaplin