Three Daisies

I plucked, so to speak, those daisies online
from an image search. It’s much too cold here
for me to find daisies growing outside.

I was talking about “The Great Gatsby”
today with someone who’s looking forward
to the big-budget movie coming soon.

Almost certainly I won’t go see it
even though I sometimes refer to it.

It occurred to me today that I know
about three famous romantic Daisies
and Fitzgerald’s is my least favorite.

The first one that comes to mind is this one:

Everyone in town has succumbed to rhinoceritis save for Berenger, Dudard and Daisy. Berenger is locked up in his apartment, yelling at the rhinos that rush by for having destroyed civilization until Dudard arrives to check on him. Dudard trivializes the transformations by saying that people have the right to choose what they do, even transform; but Berenger insists that the transformations couldn't be voluntary since his friend Jean had initially hated the rhinos and that he was probably brainwashed. Dudard counterargues that people can change their minds and gradually grows more accepting until he concludes that he must "follow [his] peers and [his] leaders" before departing and turning into a rhino.

Just before he departs, Daisy arrives. She and Berenger realize that they are left completely alone - the only humans left in a world of monsters. Berenger professes his love for Daisy and she seems to reciprocate. They attempt, albeit briefly, to have a normal life amongst the rhinoceroses. After Berenger suggests that they attempt to re-populate the human race, Daisy begins to move away from him, suggesting that Berenger doesn't understand love. She comes to believe the rhinoceroses are in the right - they who are truly passionate. Berenger slaps Daisy without thinking, immediately recanting his action. They consider their state with Berenger exclaiming that, "in just a few minutes we have gone through twenty-five years of married life!" They attempt to reconcile, but fail. As Berenger examines himself in a mirror for any evidence of transformation, Daisy quietly leaves to join the rhinoceroses.

Discovering he is completely alone, Berenger laments his behavior with Daisy. In his solitude he begins to doubt his existence - his language, his appearance, and his mind. Alone, he finds himself in the wrong and attempts to change into a rhinoceros. He struggles and fails. He returns to the mirror, face-to-face with his fate and breaks down as he struggles to accept the place he has given himself. Suddenly, he snaps out of it and renews his vow to take on the rhinos. Berenger valiantly shouts "I'm not capitulating!" to the audience before returning to the window to hurl abuse at the passing rhinoceros.

“Rhinoceros” by Eugène Ionesco
at Wikipedia

But my favorite Daisy is the one
HAL the computer sings a song about
when the astronaut starts taking apart
its mind in the film ‘2001.’

If there were an astronaut inside me
gradually pulling my brain apart
I hope my end would be something like that:

Daisy, Daisy
Give me your answer do
I’m half crazy
All for the love of you

It just seems much more romantic to me
than rhinoceroses and swimming pools.

Even without an astronaut in me
gradually pulling my brain apart
I sometimes sing that and play my guitar
or to stay true to the computer theme
I power-up my keyboard workstation.

I don’t know that anyone would sing to
those other two Daisies. I know I don’t.

Now the next time I sing and play that song
I will wonder: Am I one-third crazy?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


“Daisy Bell”
at Wikipedia

That really was
the first song
sung by a computer!


*


Los Angeles Is My Daisy

Clouds Drift As If They’re Listening

No Doubts About The Party


Beethoven In The Camellia Rain

Mischa Barton, Mischa Barton

Soft Gadgets In Marigold Space


A Bird Who Could Fly To Neptune