Earworms are a nuisance. Do you know what I mean? It is the random tune that repeats itself over and over in your head. Your earworm can last for days, or even weeks. I am currently suffering from such a blight.
My earworm is ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ – so, at least it is topical, but I am getting really sick of it. And, of course, it is never the whole song that sticks in the mind, it is always a refrain, the same few lines over and over again.
For me, I keep hearing ‘Someday soon we all will be together, if the Fates allow’. And this always brings me right back to Miss Mawer, because the Fates are part of Greek and Roman mythology.
In Ancient Greece, the Fates (known as the Moirai) were three goddesses. These goddesses controlled the span of life for each human being, by creating, spinning, and then cutting the thread of human life. To begin, Clotho was the Spinner and she span the thread of life. Her sister, Lachesis was the Allotter; she measured the thread to decide how long a person would live for. The third sister, Atropos (the Inflexible), was the goddess who used her scissors to cut the thread, ending the life.
The song was written during the Second World War, and acknowledges the fragility of human life and that we don’t have control over our futures.
We can’t be certain that we will see loved ones again – a sentiment that would have resonated with Miss Mawer who outlived her parents and all of her siblings, and suffered the loss of two husbands. The Fates, I think, did not treat her very kindly.