Pondering 'The Rose'...

Saturday night and I am pondering the latest woe that has befallen me (what a month!), I have seemingly overnight (a week ago) developed quite a severe case of double vision. After getting some test done, the latest diagnosis suggest that I have fourth nerve palsy.

I had to go look it up. Turns out the fourth cranial nerve innervates the superior oblique muscle for each eye. The superior oblique muscle is one of the six extraocular muscles that allow movement of eye. Specifically, the superior oblique muscle primarily intorts the eye (such that the top of the eye rolls toward the nose), with secondary actions of depression (downgaze) and abduction (looking away from the nose).

When this muscle’s function is diminished due to a fourth cranial nerve (CN IV) palsy, the affected eye will extort, deviate upward (hypertropia), and, to a smaller extent, drift inward.

No wonder I am pondering life! So, here I am passed midnight, feeling sorry for myself and I came across The Rose... every time I hear it I am a wreck and me a grown man... lol

"The Rose" was written by Amanda McBroom and made famous by Bette Midler, who performed it in the 1979 movie, "The Rose." McBroom won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, although she was not nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Midler won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "The Rose".

There are two mixes of the song. The single mix features orchestration, while the version in the film (and on its soundtrack) includes an extended introduction while doing away with the orchestration in favor of piano-and-vocals only.

Anyway, this all leads to me lying in bed listening to the song and pondering the lyrics...

When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long
And you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snow
Lies the seed
That with the sun's love, in the spring
Becomes the rose

Below is the divine Miss Bette singing The Rose, if you cannot see the video, watch it HERE.