ever on

After several weeks, I'm still not ready to put Middlemarch back on the shelf. If writing a which-Middlemarch-woman-are-you-quiz was not enough to get the story out of my system, I wonder if dreaming about Middlemarch, The Musical might be? I'd need to ditch a few characters and a good 500 pages of content, but Les Mis survived more than that.

Here's a preview lyric, inspired by Eliot's Shakespeare quote 'My grief lies onward and my joy behind'. Can you guess who should be singing?

Ever On

1. What weary miles I travel

every day I seek

my journey's end but know it brings

no joy and no relief

my path is narrow, winding

with darkened shadows lined

and only grief lies onward

all my joy is left behind.

Ever on, up each hill, around each bend

Ever on, till I reach my journey's end

Step by step, though this path

leads me further from my heart

ever onward, ever onward I will go.

2. The wall between us rising

and petty tyrannies

are bricks that separate our souls

and thwart our destinies

A web of lies is woven

my heart held in its bind

now only grief is onward

all my joy is far behind

3. A phantom clothed in splendour

Emits her glorious ray

I reach and yet I cannot touch

the vision fades away

Awake, my soul to reason

leave dreams of every kind

for only grief lies onward

all my joy is far behind.

sar 2010