Ripples

 

If you find yourself in need of a good insult, you need look no further than The Complete Works of Shakespeare. The Bard had a barb for every occasion. In Much Ado About Nothing, you’d find: “You have such a February face, So full of frost, of storm, and cloudiness.” Shakespeare didn’t like February any more than I do. In Henry V is this gem: “Thine face is not worth sunburning.” Maybe this appeals to me because mine seems to be worth the trouble. When a servant comes to tell Macbeth the English army is coming, he fumes, “The devil damn thee black, thou cream-faced loon! Where got’st thou that goose look?” which is a colorful way of calling someone a coward. In Comedy of Errors, Menenius complains about Martius: “The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes.” But my favorite is from A Midsummer Night’s Dream: “I am sick when I do look on thee.”