Which wrinkles will devour;
Brightness falls from the air;
Queens have died young and fair;
Dust hath closed Helen's eye.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Thomas Nashe, Litany in Time of Plague
"Et Jehanne, la bonne Lorraine,
Qu'Anglois bruslerent à Rouen;
Où sont-ilz, Vierge souveraine?
Mais où sont les neiges d'antan."
François Villon, Ballade des dames du temps jadis
"Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre.
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget!"
Rudyard Kipling, Recessional
"Wir sind aus solchem Zeug wie das zu Träumen...
Und drei sind Eins: ein Mensch, ein Ding, ein Traum."
H. von Hofmannsthal, Terzinen, 1894
¿Qué fue entonces del rico y de su poderío
de la vanaglorïa, de su orgulloso brío?
Todo ya es pasado y corrió como río;
de todo su pensar fincó él mucho frío."
Pedro López de Ayala, Ubi sunt, 1385
“物の哀れ。 終わるからこそ、大切。消えるからこそ、美しい”。
Motoori Norinaga, Tama no Ogushi, 1796
"Where are the princes of this world, and those who lorded it over the creatures of the earth? Those who made sport of the birds of the air, and hoarded up riches in which they trusted. Those for whom there is no limit to their greed, those who schemed to get more wealth, and were always anxious about their possessions.
Now there is no trace of them. They have vanished down into the bowels of the earth, and others have risen to take their place."
Baruch 3:16-19
"That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang."
William Shakespeare, Sonnet 73, 1609
"For these small troubles of the moment work for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is forever."
2 Corinthians 4:17-18
Few understand that the object of war is not to take and claim territory, although that certainly serves a purpose.
The object of war is to degrade and break the enemy's ability and will to fight on. That is where victory resides.
The US financial interests are engaged in a war of attrition against freedom, fair trading, and honest valuation.
Claiming seats in government is not the goal. It is to break the financiers pattern of corrupt impunity and moral hazard.
This is why the 'lesser of two evils' strategy is so perfidious, so perniciously debilitating.
It is a bandage that, for a time, masks a festering wound.
Stocks backed off a bit as the 'war/peace' three card monte game faltered.
Gold and silver rallied sharply off their recent event-driven price suppression activities.
There will be a Non-Farm Payrolls report tomorrow.
The valuations of the stock indices, in particular the Tech heavy NDX, are near manic levels. The correction, when it comes, may be ferocious, especially if the government based buying support falters.
It is time to gather ourselves, and prepare the for the worst, while hoping for the best. And to remember what truly matters.
This mispriced risk in the market is a monument to an empire of deceit.
This gilded grandeur too shall pass, like Babylon, Nineveh, and Tyre.
Where are they now?
Have a pleasant evening.
