The Infinite Matrix | Michael Swanwick & Francisco Goya | The Sleep Of

Reason 21

07.18.02

the sleep of reason

by Michael Swanwick

with illustrations by

Francisco JosÉ de Goya y Lucientes

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Digital image © copyright

Davison Art Center,

Wesleyan University

DAC permission required

for any other use.

21. [Plate 79]

The Beer of Eternity

What is so good as freshly-brewed beer? "Country soup," James Joyce

called it, because it's rich and dark and full of vitamins. Take a deep

swig ? you'll not be needing a sandwich today! A pint of the true stuff

is a meal in itself.

What is so good as beer shared with friends? It's old friends we're

talking here, dear friends, tried and true. They might not be the best of

people or the wittiest. But they've proved themselves. They denied

knowing you when the police came looking. They burned your papers when

you were on the run and could not. Many a time they gave false evidence

in court for you. As you, of course, did for them.

Now you're old and so, alas, are your friends. Death looms over you all,

smiling in a way that makes one reflect uneasily on how many sins are

encompassed in this very room. Murders, rapes, deceptions of all kinds ?

even a deathbed repentance couldn't get any of you off the hook. Nobody

dies slowly enough to repent of all you've done.

All the more reason to pour yourself another beer! Forget about Hell and

consequences. Focus on all those good memories. The lives despoiled, the

fortunes stolen, the virtuous maidens seduced and abandoned? Those were

the days, weren't they? Those were the days.

What is so tasty as the beer of life? It's a heady drink indeed.

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This is the 21st of 80 stories by Michael Swanwick written to accompany

Francisco Goya's Los Caprichos. For a listing of the most recently

available stories, go to The Sleep of Reason.

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