From the Old English “smearcian” which means to smile or to laugh in
a derisive manner… to grin smugly while conveying a haughty
countenance letting all who see this expression upon your mug become
aware of your own sense of self-involved superiority. This kind of
appearance makes itself apparent on a recurring basis to all who
watch TV. regularly. I ain’t mentioning no names.
And then there’s fearlessness. That ability given to some to laugh at
danger… to grin in face of an impending and mighty onslaught to
smirk as it were in the face of death. Hah… you say to the scythed
specter most fear… while of course hoping no one notices your
quivering entrails… which leads to the pressing question: Hey,
Benjamin. What’s this got to do with jewelry… or at least gold?
Hah right back at ya, I say with a smirk or a grin or even a
condescending smile. And from under my cloak I bring forth a golden
mask… a death mask in fact… a death mask with the haughty
countenance of a smirking bearded noble that was found buried in the
graves at Mycenae. It was called the mask of Agamemnon after the
leader of the forces of the Trojan War in Homer’s Iliad.
This of course–as you all surely know–is inaccurate as the mask’s
existence predates the war by some 300 years. Still… a flight of
fancy … a little license… and a wry smiling aristocrat is
endowed with more fame than he could have excepted when he was alive.
Ain’t that how it is sometimes? Death clearly creates more greatness
than life could ever hope for.
So… I have this image of this smirking death mask that is so alive
it almost jumps out at you. Could this nobleman have ever achieved
the smirking stature in life that his death mask portrays now that he
is no longer with us? I ask you this with great sincerity.
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at http://www.tyler-adam.com where you
will scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that
says Current Tidbits… and you will see represented on our pages the
death mask of a smirking aristocrat of the Mycenaean age.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark