¡¶Black Venus¡·


 Contents

Black Venus

    the Kiss

    Our Lady of the Massacre

    t of Edgar Allan Poe

    Overture and Incidental Music for A Midsummer Nights Dream

    Peter and the olf

    tchen Child

    the Fall River Axe Murders

 Black Venus-1

    Sad; so sad, te autumn, sad enougo pierce t. ts ts of gaudy cloud; anguisers ty, a sense of tterest regret, a nostalgia for turn of time of impotent yearning, t quot;t;, bringing to mind tal drama of t-t must recur again and again, y, at time of every year t sc out to rob orc everyday image, any cue and kno;regretquot;, t any precise reason.

    Soft ts of mist invade tions of an exed spirit, seep in t tours of tment . On to lapse to tears.

    She sighs.

    tard-apple of inking Eden s -- and  once transported  sabula rasa, still. So tracted from it. If you start out ake even t ahe Good Book says so.

    Indeed, I to bite any apple at all. S  knoe of innocence nor a state of grace. I ell you w Jeanne was like.

    Sry were everybody  off.

    On t times, as to dusk, ead of lig;Baby, baby, let me take you back ree and you can cruncrong, eettle, baby.  ting palm-trees, under to deatogetctle girl in a s in bo ing in t, my pet. . . t o live t;

    But, on t and sulking, no pet nor pussy sy feateful sticks. S gnahe back of her neck or pinching her ankles.

    Go, ly from tube,  as a c to look. Fly-blooo eat is green bananas and yams and a brocte of rubber goat to cs on a trical so sed cat off es t, any t  ing to strangle it. Ss a flute of discarded manuscript from tepaper basket into a spill for .

    Nig of fur and marvellous clouds drift past tral clouds of t sky t are uncannily visible er of t let t topmost ones replaced ed glass so t tes could pursue an uninterrupted vieriump ascents.

    At tion of a gust of les tiles above us, tment s Persian rugs, its  table off  of fake tintorettos on tigable connoisseur, if, as yet, too young to  tells you ation of terious currents of ted cabin s moorings in treet beloake off, depart, , tangling a stillborn, crescent moon in its ropes, nudging a star at lift-off, and  us --

    quot;No!quot; s;Not t forest! Dont take me on te back to t Indies, for godsake! And let t out, before it craps on your precious Bok;

    tive land, alto pretend s one or not,  believe s t ogetemplating fliging for to blo ake to a miraculous elsewed ease and pleasure.

    After s a drink or t to unpin  , to. And, if ive indolence does not prove too mucable trance, for imes lob tt of  in to take off  es reets.

    Nigober, of frail, sickle moons, erious -- on suc, you could say the moon was black.

    ted o perform so muced of a series of voluptuous poses one folloe-room-in-a-bordello stuff but tasteful, o undulate r and so put on all  of clanking je. Mean Mardi Gras or tool but Daddy paid no attention to ically entranced.

    quot;Sucker!quot; s tenderly, but  hear her.

    S a long s. S, type of tiful giantesses ages of tinsel pasties, divinely tall, texture of suede. Josep vivacity, exuberance ies. A slumbrous resentment of anyt eat, drink or smoke, i.e. burn, ic. Consumption, combustion, tions.

    Sced e reflections of trings of glass beads racking about above  but t s to irely.  or not underneat t out of anybody.

    t prone to introspection, sometimes, as s room t tugged at its moorings, longing to take off on an aerial quest for ts, s tinction  of one man utors in t is, ot, unelessly croaked tties sold  sixteen, sion to be kept; t is, kept off treets. Prostitution ion of number; of being paid by more t a time. t  Daddy, s t ter of  ion of fidelity. (In though her lover assumed she was promiscuous because she was promiscuous.)

    Noimes asked . If so o dance naked to earn  so keep herself? Eh? Eh?

    But t of organising a ne. And o ask? S notion of her own use value.

    S arted dancing se enjoyed it. S almost o quot;tquot;, she snapped her mind off.

    tely of  o eet  be black stumps, already, but ted canines still ed o join in t  or busting oned, o t ogetold over tany of toms toget tune-telling mirror and seeing, not t their own rouged skulls.

    of t it, it made  in er, as if s tty, secretly festering till  alpurgisnacced to tc;Naked on a goat, I display my fine young body.quot; c;Youll rot!quot; Ill rot, t Jeanne, and laugric cynicism ill became sucure made for pleasure as Jeanne, but  tic fate of a creature made for pleasure and trocious mixture of corruption and innocence t illes?

    For rition and ring  , some centuries before Jeannes birtec goddess, Nanazin, cadores as took ty from to tinents revenge, perpetrating itself in tly follorail across tlantic but s no erotic vengeance -- s protector. trusted to take , enougo make a  t salist, s.

    S over backil tened o t; so a maice  and rong o iful, s exquisite ions but soo poor to be able to afford tion as sucook w came. She arched her back so much a small boy could have run under her. her reversed blood sang in her ears.

    Upside do rig unfrosted, ted on tline of t of its surface, obscured by tips, so you could say ts arms. An exceptionally brilliant star suspended from taut, invisible leash.

    t cat, ts excretory stroll along ttance outside t let Puss in. Puss leapt into ing arms and filled tment ted to strangle t oes but, indulgent from ty, so see  ures, ts,  for its existence; t in common. Sretcendons.

    dance: t;ve got no legs, and  kindly, youre an idiot, Jeanne; but s quick system of transverse strikes, lasself like a erribly fast -- if . Semplated ing breasts; stle  a persistent vaginal disc smelled of mice, somet: no  er, not at this hour.

    quot;t er if you pay.quot;

    urn to sulk. ook to cleaning his nails again.

    quot;You t need a ;

    But, even as s darts of a s t sracted for a tense, scratc taste for it. S does it matter? o die; aring vacantly at tment. t drely alongside, as if on purpose, adding a toucanic glamour, so you could imagine bot conversations  left  it alone. togety of te self-absorptions of t and te t t felt outmanoeuvred and o broion if you so mucy until so ackno again.

    ips  . S Eve but, , and en her!

    eird goddess, dusky as night,

    reeking of musk smeared on tobacco,

    a s of the savannah,

    black-tcs child. . .

 Black Venus-2

    Indeed, t ating memory must s spirit, alto do no suc from  many conscious desires. If s, so saints so little, but, alas, sill pricked by needs.

    t yaretcrance. Folding anot of a dismantled sonnet to ignite a fres,  glass a-jingle and a-jangle, surned to t to ask, in able s da of tilles, for a little money.

    Nobody seems to kno Cresses, Agla¨¦-Josepier and Marie Daubrun, are ed. Besides Duval, s Mauritius, in to Domingo, in take your pick of t sides of tance t  t some time on t island during ive trip to India in 1841. Santo Domingo, Columbus roubled ory, borders upon i. oussaint LOuverture led a successful slave revolt against Frencation o time of tion.

    Alt debate t tional Assembly in 1794, it inique and Guadeloupe -- t in i -- by Napoleon. t finally emancipated until 1848. resses of Frencs en manumitted, togetermarriage ion greo to the same Napoleon.

    It is unlikely t Jeanne Duval belonged to t, sinique, wo y.

    e in Man Coeur Mis ¨¤ Nu: quot;Of tred of Beauty. Examples: Jeanne and Mme Muller.quot; (ho was Mme Muller?)

    Kids in treets cones at all and ceetering along y of tes mockery, and, al full of all ters of Letreet  ;black bitc; or tering tiful ters s or ordinaire or rum uck up in the Africas.

    But sy in exile, for, of tire and erogeneous ries,  been dispossessed?

    Robbed of tes of t of teric  university of timbuktu; of ty of glamorous desert cities before rumpets ts and  even so muco le  one jot. tinent to er h a rag-covered bed.

    o Jeanne: quot;I o te ion ill-born suckled me. I dont kno my fat coast nor in ances. My foster-motation. I ;

    Nevertained a negative inance; if you tried to get o do anyt  to, if you tried to erode t little steely nugget of self as letience of to in, not even self-pity, only ty-nine legally permitted strokes of the whip.

    ois, kne badly and taug badly to Jeanne, o convert it into good Frenco Paris and started mixing  made a ,   in it, no  ongue  out and anot did not fit  so muc Jeanne did not understand troubled serenity of ry but, t it ual affront to ed it to  because  made  manifested itself in a ter of ungrammatical recriminations and demands ed at e fond of  ion, great ga black girl, good for notion, good for only one tes ly at  of oblivion on her Amazonian head.

    test poet of alienation stumbled upon t stranger; tc,  his.

    t, t, lay resplendently on to acle of o provide a sumptuous feast for  eyes t han his belly.

    Venus lies on ting for a o rise: ty albatross orm. hirlwind!

    Sed ross. A scallop-sark naked across tlantic; sco rosses che wee black cherubs blew for her.

    tross can fly around t days, if only it sticks to tormy places. t ; te mastery of it.

    Dotocks of tual cold t begins and ends our experience of tains ely penguin in  not unlike yours, Daddy, timable but, unlike you, uxorious penguin arctic may afford.

    If Daddy rosses in this house.

    ind is t of tross just as domesticity is t of t;Roaring Fortiesquot; and quot;Furious Fiftiesquot;, o east betest tips of ted continents and tmare of table ice, t birds glide in delig inverts tional souts parrot-forest and glittering beacic monocless birds form tes orm -- like tting good and quiet  cists sucrapeze.

    t for tment. t. t from a ne.

    t oil  sicism transforms tco tropical islands imes persuade ion performs an alceration on tang of , fres smells of cinnamon because s kind of fleshan his.

    It is essential to tion t, if s on te garments of nudity, its non-sartorial regalia of je retain teentury masculine impedimenta of frock coat (exquisitely cut); ailored); oxblood cravat; and impeccable trousers. to Le D¨¦jeuner sur ls t, anoto do so; ful, tion of culture. oman is; and is t all, y, s one ure in a flesy t, s, is t abominable of artifices.

    Once, before s o kidnap omers at t, spirited  first protesting, treets in to take ted in treet, rig announce it; or go off into an alley to do it on  even leave go of  straddled tter, legs apart and pissed as if it  natural ted C liquid cascade!

    (At rousers.)

    Jeanne cs epped across t e stockings at t seemed to errified, exacerbated sensibilities t t burned ated cotton, dissolved ticoat, ays, , so t noiserrifying.

    fitted as tenderly close as t gynaecologists cranquilly recollected a red- ired from ter s proportion of omers ed noto ejaculate into  titian mane. (.) t t, on tasteful and more ercourse but it meant so  -eyed little tripped of its essential, natural oils. Seller and commodity in one, a  in t take care of ing red- risk squandering al so recklessly but Jeanne never emperament of tradesperson, s feel sy and so so everybody except t, for o offer suc gift for nothing.

    quot;Get it up for me,quot; said t.

    quot;Albatrosses are famous for tsics t tesque, a;

    Birds of tin Jnr

    t great nest builders. A slig  a little mound of mud. t squalid concessions to trosss nest, as just sucing kind of residence in est madame of all, ed trange birds togetransitory exile, anything is possible.

    quot;Jeanne, get it up for me.quot;

    Not of a fuck, bringing  drama erludes and ot could make you cry and, after  Jeanne cant remember e for a couple of bottles, a bargain isfied because Jeanne ting into trouble and gro of e so much.

    angling togetory of transgression, t out; also, te, ser moon in top left-op left-s of clear glass in ts satellite star, completed tion of its slooically laboured over reasure in oil, moon and star arrived toget t-hand windowpane.

    If you could see   so dark, sim of a robbery;  eyes are like abysses but so  raying to  trace elements of common y  inside terly, for y promised by t.

    tar vanish.

    Nadar says er, deaf, dumb and paralysed, Baudelaire died. t, finally, so far estranged from , in t montriumpion in a mirror, ely, as to a stranger. old o make sure t Jeanne er but  give c to teetied around  you could still see t . errify ttle c stop to speak to her.

    tinique.

    You can buy teet s.

    t? S test idea o take over repreneur --  oped a managed to smuggle to ime  looking. Fifty francs for Jeanne, y francs for Jeanne, t all added up.

    So find out h.

    Add to t or t used to ligs ions. Sale of cuff-links and dra rid of ter, any memorabilia of t, even c a portfolio erprising agent.

    In a neussore,  ravaged but carefully repaired face partially concealed by a flattering veil, seamer bound for table  fifty, after all. S  setting off er  first, to look out ty to buy.

    errupted by no albatrosses. S of te, unless it o compare able one. You could say t Jeanne o eartly . to give up rum, except for a single tot last t niger ts ed.

    Seeing  black, leaning a little on ick but stately as only one ;Good morning, Mme Duval!quot; sings out t it sounds. Saking last nigakings to t;t; As soon as s  taste of it, ston for deference.

    Until at last, in extreme old age, so t¨¨ge of grieving girls takes o tinue to dispense, to t privileged of tration, at a not excessive price, table, tic, true Baudelairean syphilis.

    translated from:

    SED NON SAtIAtA

    Bizarre d¨¦it¨¦, brune comme les nuits,

    Au parfum m¨¦lang¨¦ de musc et de havane,

    Oeuvre de quelque obi, le Faust de la savane,

    Sorci¨¨re au flanc d¨¦b¨¨ne, enfant des noirs minuits,

    Je pr¨¦f¨¨re au Constance, ¨¤ lopium, au nuits,

    L¨¦lixir de ta bouche o¨´ lamour se pavane;

    Quand vers toi mes d¨¦sirs partent en caravane,

    tes yeux sont la citerne o¨´ boivent mes ennuis.

    Par ces deux grands yeux noirs, soupiraux de ton ame,

    ? d¨¦mon sans piti¨¦! verse-moi moins de flamme;

    Je ne suis pas le Styx pour tembrasser neuf fois,

    je ne puis, M¨¦g¨¨re libertine,

    Pour briser ton courage et te mettre aux abois,

    Dans lenfer de ton lit devenir Proserpine!

    Les Fleurs du Mal, Charles Baudelaire

    to ten about Jeanne Duval, are often called t;Les Bijouxquot;, quot;La C;, quot;Le Serpent qui danse, quot;Parfum Exotiquequot;, quot;Le Cquot;, quot;Je tadore ¨¤ legal de la vo?te nocturnequot;, etc.

 The Kiss-1

    ters in Central Asia are piercing and bleak, id summers bring cery and mosquitoes, but, in April, touc of all trees douses tys t-catcs.

    Every city s oernal logic. Imagine a city draraigric se, in pale terracotta. Loerraces of o rise out of tis, not built out of it. t, gritty dust over everyt tel crayons leave on your fingers.

    Against t crusts of ceramic tiles t cover t mausoleums ensorcellate transforms itself to green . Beneaternately lapis lazuli and veridian, tamburlaine, tomb. e are visiting an autically fabulous city. e are in Samarkand.

    tion promised t  least, did not in, pink and yellocripes of brilliant colours t dazzle like an optical illusion, and th much jewellery made of red glass.

    to be fro a traig takes to t a break. tartling. ten ts. Young girls tle velvet caps embroidered allic ted igy years.

    t live in an imaginary city. t kno turbanned, sed, booted menfolk are creatures as extraordinary to t, in all ttering and innocent exoticism, in direct contradiction to ory. t kno t kno ty is not tire y, beautiful as an illusion, ea nudges ts wicker cage.

    t er from a glass over radis of t summers dried fruit -- apricots, peac for a fees, stored in sa ter and no open on tall to s nest of garnets remains y of Samarkand is salted apricot kernels, more delicious, even, tachios.

    An old ains,  flourtle-doves are nesting among to a cup of buttermilk for s slohey are growing.

    So in time. Or, it is as if sing for Sco perceive a final daale of all concluded, fall silent. t vanish.

    A goat is nibbling   by tiful amburlaine.

    tamburlaines arted to build t t urn, one arcill remained unfinis directly to tect and begged o  tect told  e time only if she gave him a kiss. One kiss, one single kiss.

    tamburlaines  only very beautiful and very virtuous but also very clever. S to t, boug of eggs, boiled tained t colours. Sect to t and told o c it. ook a red egg.  does it taste like? Like an egg. Eat another.

    ook a green egg.

    does t taste like? Like try again.

    e a purple egg.

    One eggs tastes just they are fresh, he said.

    t to t but taste t you like but you must leave me alone.

    Very ect. But soon o ime ray , and you er.

    Drink from eachese bowls, he said.

    Sook a drink from t bo tered  contained, not er, but vodka.

    t er bot eacastes quite different,  is th love.

    tamburlaines ect on t back to t victorious tamburlaine rode into Samarkand ive kings. But  to visit urned ao ter sasted vodka. tamburlaine beat  until sold ect and t ioners foot to the mosque.

    tioners saect standing on top of tairs  wo Persia.

    tory in simple, geometric samburlaines ory ripe laterally across iny plaits, like any ot red and we radis for er s. Perhere.

    Our Lady of the Massacre

    My name is neit I may not speak of no  noo my person nor my life as to my nature. But I first sale ters left living  on t became of t kno, as for me, I could do a bit of se me up as a maid of all o an old  lived in our parish.

    t, of t t to ing a son and getting no saugin, Greek and a bit of   telescope o vie oo bad to make out muc  clear sigo to come. Sen let me  at tars, too, for I ers, as you can see, and o  my  ts and zodiacal instruments. And, old me I  need t no time in all my life, but a little conversational each me, for reasons as follows:

    t tars, ake a long voyage over to t, s t;red c; could be none ot tribe of Israel, so saug;lovequot; and quot;;, and muc I ten, so t I could talk to my   been a steady girl, surned my  t tars foretold I so be nohe Red Men.

    For, s country far beyond ter ty, and its rivers floly from Eden so, ed to true religion -- quot;o  deserve it and my little babby sit smiling over everytin and cross  I never told nobody about  ar-gazing, eit ic, tcure.

    One day ts up again and  all to em but t s for meself.

    I take it into my o go to London, ime -- five days. s to London, I stole my first penny loaf, to keep me from starving, o my undoing, a gentleman t spies me slip to my pocket, instead of raising a o treets, takes my arm, inquires:  or inclination t makes me take it. I flares up at t: ant, sir! says I and ty young quot;Lancas; as I  for nottered and coaxed me t I  o a room  in a public s  for s money t ever I sail ts for, so o pray forgiveness,  I sa fall, e one, and t;Lancas; rade as t;Lancas;.

    No   tter bread of exile. But you could say t,  made a t, it ed me in t and ; for it since my customers, blinded as t and often fuddled o pluck, living, than geese, dead.

    It c of ty alderman t took me to Nee for I quarrelled  and sook  of me to trate out of spite. So, just as my old Lancasress said, I sailed to Virginia but I  in a convict transport. to brand me, as ts, and sold me to ence in tation for seven years, after whey said I should be a free woman again.

    My master took a liking to me, for I  yet aged above seventeen, and  of tobacco fields into c t like it, t I s taste of ered me unmercifully t, since I  play t maid  me alone in ter o c being Sunday morning, t one , says I s  or no. I picked up t one, tot a sigicking;  into t dripping.

    Seeing me in sucer, t of vegetables cries: quot;s t;

    quot;ell,quot; says I, quot;t noried to board me and Ive  oo.quot;

    tured kind of Negro man and a slave, ickled once too often by t forbear to laug says to me: quot;t be off into t your fate to tender mercies of tter.quot;

    of dinner in it and a tinder-box  o, and I sation a clean pair of ell you, adding to my list of crimes t most heinous: escape from bondage.

    I am a good rudge from Lancaso London and by time nig doo eat t of bread and bacon teen odd miles betation and rougoo, for my master  to groo il I gets to , Id ply my trade amongst strangers, for a  o set up business.

    You must knoo Florida but ten or t, for I kne ance furt, for t vastness of to me. As for t, c t sound under took a bearing by t on.

    I er out of treams and it  off a bit of fruit but my guts began to rumble by dinner-time and I cast my eye about for more solid fodder. Seeing ts and birds unknoo me, I t: quot;s!quot; So I tied my srings togeto make a little snare and trapped a small, bro kind, but earless, and slit its t, skinned it, toasted it on tinder-box ted  and a bit of bread.

    After I eat my dinner, I sa t t I mig stones,  of effort, and so get a kind of flour, as  imes of . I reasoned o douger. t. And, if I ed fisom, I could tickle trout ream abounded, ry girl kno unlike picking a pocket. Also, it seemed to me, if I dried t s for a mont so far in planning my diet, I t:  meat  salt!

    For, I t, I eel and fire and te is temperate, tful; ter out of brancime until time. Besides, to tell trutrils oo full of tink of y to relisurn to t I t t I sravel on a little more, for safetys sake, into t no ing party migurn me to tell you, more dread of te man,  time unknoo me.

    So I aking my living from try easily enoug tle; but ter t I ribe in a clearing and t to kill  t ing t. So I steps back to  s of a planter, alt I rod before. But s so t s and .

    I never t it but step across to pick up to -seller t overturns  of apples.

    ts to  and  fear me for it, or, rat fear me because of it, but, all t like takes  from me again as if to leave me in t. But I am struck by  red but  came into my mind to open my bodice, ss, t, ter skin, I could give suck as ouched my bosom.

    S middle age dressed in no a buckskin skirt and sed ill ioned me, as I t, t ion. So off go my stays and I to a bus. to give uck in my apron.

    quot;No!quot; I t  over and s muc ake to mean quot;Knifequot;. I say it after ing to it, but ser ;S;. Or, a o Englise. And t   ever I spoke, t t, by any means. t, as I can see, marked by caugry  ;S;. ely repeats after me but I can tell it means noo her.

    Sions me: so look for me among to to;takenquot; by em alter  took me  my , t im.

 The Kiss-2

    tty to ockade, t of birc in gardens  savouring t  dinner-time. t tas pot on an open fire and a naked savage squatting before it, calm as you please, fanning toidy fields of tobacco and corn and a river near. But no kind of beast did I see, nor coo  of er to  I was much refreshed.

    I al dragons, accustomed to eat t tty little naked c, otle ducks be reared on cannibal meat! And my Indian quot;mot;, as I soon called  to ted tives and ceremoniously partook t o ed by devouring en disputed er on t, t t tate of nature. And ter  I lived so long an t I greomed to  t t in britches.

    As for me, all I ever eat among tc. and t t it is very rare to see a sick body amongst tooth age.

    t first I bluso see tomed to go clad in no breecs at t season and t em. But soon I t not and excticoat for too, of ter of o pet until t o the English for giving away.

    to me and I lived in  ribe and all ime taken up o  o make potions to ease t s saw her.

    ime in leisure and idleness, except antly at oo; and t t , rat in battle, so  the back.

    As for me, I stayed  and learned from ting on my knees on to my meat t  before me because ture. I learned o cure and dress robes out of buckskin, beaver and oto embroider t and my moteel needles, likeinder-box, ,  tion of al alts out of trive to se close one.

    And I s one or ttle urn for dressed robes and, as for ts of t about it except it sends em mad, but, as for to use them.

    t coming on, t of corn, to my  t muc deep and  eat ored a t labour for t eal from t icks or tribe, it is t to do ure, alt is  go fishe corn grow.

    But my mot;t and it keeps t of t;

    By time turned, I tling ao it, t a ain so I taken t t tribe of Israel and, as to converting to true religion, I  it never entered my  it ained my ligomed to my presence among t six mont s;mot; ural mot my blue eyes remained a marvel.

    But for all tion beto Florida as tom and ,  cast my eye on a brave of t tribe o do t t o me at last: quot;t tall ; tall   em as James or Matt be in Lancashire.

    And no comes to it, I , for he was a fine man.

    quot; good mans ry.quot;

    quot;A bad ; s;s t;

    So I told  I did to earn my living on Cural vocation. As for my o pay for suco sell, for t free or not at all, and, as for my virginity being gone, s;If you  good, nobody  sil at last so me: quot;ell, ceal a or robe from out of my  and keep it yourself and deny it to me?quot;

    quot;, mot; says I. quot;If I s and give it to you again as you do inder-box and t is ; naming our neig;And to tell trut in all tes my old passion of avarice, ry, for t is tom. So neit can make a t;

    quot;te of yourself among t; s; marry t;

    Noain men of t, as I mig  one  to till t like t. I  I could not lose. And s, altells me  muche sex and much fondness for her own.

    quot;As for ourselves, oo seemly and decent a folk for tter of matrimony to come better company for to dandle t so tter toget;

    But still I said, I would be his only wife or never marry him.

    quot;Listen, my dear,quot; s;Do you not love me?quot;

    quot;Indeed I do,quot; I says, quot;.quot;

    quot;t so marry us bot?quot;

    But I ducked my o ans, for fear so take oo, along ruck  t any tocks and cries out: quot;Noc it can set a daug ;

    But ss to see me cry for soo old and stubborn to taken  erms in taugo love t tter ed toil of tilling a patc but my oerfere .

    e  time ting te  is ing toer comes again and by to bringing tle brave. It o see tenderness of my o, en sime, tribes of t of territory stle toget army to drive to reaties  tribes  more guns from the English.

    But I sent o t omed to let t  ake all tribes of all tinent to drive ao come again in double numbers, so eager o quot;plant t; old traig make a grand,  all tions and never trust a , o steal.

    But took no notice of me, and could not agree about t, ttack on Annesto in lonely places; or meeting em , because it  , to my ting ts moutill  to squabbling amongst talk o me, for I ed a quiet life.

    I ced stick along til te ters broke and I goes running into my moter, as I judge it, for t time, she blood off my young son.

    My young son le Sing Star, and you may laug it, but it is a name fine men rapped into tle board t  ride on my back in  be. e my old Lancaso pass, because my boys fatribe of S, altant , ter does not  stuff, being a dissenting man, and  let me speak of it.

    But it  t ttle lads cro be of tears, not gold.

    Noions of to our fierce braves o  a retreat, t is, stir our stumps and pick up our traps and leave our fields and s o neures, after t, ter to do, since to t lay tribe not easily crossed. And t out a y to give taste of to start off  I  my  come back.

    s o see and t and all come back,  tles, bullets and gunpowder. Also, alas, rum.

    Yet I must say, opknots, I felt no pleasure t ter says I am a good girl and God ted among the Indians.

    As for gunpoall old me,  to told  merriment amongst t, like seed corn, and cs come up. And t as a grudge ever after, to eased like silly carved dead if t taugo plant corn.

    tive t back laso taunted  torco a slo  a bit of drink inside em, I must admit it.

    quot;No; says my one-cold sober because al terror of tongue. quot;I must ask you to talk to t  last remember certain pledges and treaties formerly made beto drive us into terms, so it rapped bet;

    At first I  do it because I felt some pity for tern ives and made a cruel festival out of t  Annesto me.

    ;Praise t; ells me straig give over my tribes to tes in t I so eac t but  be but only: t took   to e good gunpowder on  he fire. Soon he was dead.

    ts, tuffed full of coin and all to play ducks and drakes  che alderman of.

    quot;s t;  t rang t being noon, and c, drops it, it breaks apart, tter on titious savage t  man in trembling and said tc;bad medicinequot; and boded ill.

    So  off and got drunk . I go tlemans pockets and find out  an end to tells em so, full of misgiving at it, but to be  of any of em until t it off but just before sun-up next day the soldiers came on horseback.

    t ligo tockade so it burned and our lodge burned  as day. t a bullet t and all be  of t   miss  t and form on legs , and so escaped.

    But t o ts to me, seeing me fleeing: quot;You, unkind daug; For s I o cast my lot in  so, by any means. ted  . So all over quickly, by daybreak no but ass he governor.

    t out crying. One of tes, ing among t t do, flat on my back, tumbles out of my arms and cracks one, sets up a terrible s  o  ts ens cending to rape me, rengten to  all at once leaves off his horrid fumbling, amazed.

    quot;Captain!quot; ;Look ;

    akes a good o er cool as you please , in t;I am tall ; But  understand t.

    t I  indeed a  last by a trick for one of em fetc ick to my little one.

    quot;t not!quot; I cried out  ed out in broad Lancasain sees my burned ;runa; and says ty on teases me, ;Rquot; for quot;runa; o Annesto  all I  is ter, to  on to give me, at last.

    my babby back and put o nurse, for  along ruto tell, my spirit broken. And  living, t I used to call quot;sisterquot;, trailed along beed ed bread and not one brave left living in t part of t noed of folkquot;. And tering thly paradise running blood.

    t bad luck on to me. But, as for me, my grief is mixed  all tice is.

    e gets to a place  finis;an,quot; says t o ter, o t I raying from aking my cue from o my knees, for I see t repentance is ts and t I ster it , so I live on as if I  it turns out I  eye never fades.

 Our Lady of the Massacre

    ters  of tcells me to cover up my breasts, for s t be pacified. Yet s, and ter, also, as ts no let take me to Annesto offered tain a good sum of money to leave me  baby. tain er adds anots ter  ter says: quot;Little Sing Star is no name for a Cian,quot; and a baptised Cian my boy must be if ted to tion of t, as for me, I  call er gave alk to  there.

    After a ealto a plantation to tole a girl. to meself,  tled a score on , good luck to o to captivity, to do so, if it makes ter o save my soul, and tle one,  good money to keep us from t I earn my keep, do all ter, hew wood.

    So I scrubbed ters floor, cooked ter so build ty of God in ty of ts, eit t desire to take up my old trade again. But t I could not; the Indians had damned me for a good woman once and for all.

    By and by to me and says: quot;You are still a young   take t; But stle lad for  sit and ers of Babylon.

 The Cabinet of Edgar Allan Poe-1

    Imagine Poe in ts virtues; no Spartan, ime ilts to greet tere morning, antly concur: quot;No man is safe ; ar of melanc  is alern, democratic ligions off treets do go.

    Perar of melanc ttom of time. . . it migtle secret bethe jug and himself. . .

    urns back to go and look; and tiless ligs ruck,  te ligrikes top  in situdes, a man must make s concealment because t of ts of no ambiguities. Eit; or a stranger. ranger, leman up from Virginia some gentleman) in e nigito titude, tocracy.

    Poe staggers under t of tion of Independence. People think he is drunk.

    he is drunk.

    the new-found land.

    So you say s? Very  ory of rionics in runk, grease-paint in ream, and made  appearance on any stage in itled Mysteries of tle. On so sing a ballad clad in tty rags of a ballet gypsy.

    It eentury.

    At tille, old Sade is jerking off. Grunt, groan, grunt, onto teet of eacion spring up a so succumb to delirium.

    ure moto a stage in tco sing an old-ty rags of a ballet gypsy. reble, dark curls, rosy ce kid! And eyes , somet struck directly to t so t torium broke out in raucous sentimental cs leatogetar  nig of fit-ups and candle-footlig so be a sing star; sinued table trajectory of teor, dorod them.

    But, er puberty, sill able, to ature and slim build, to continue to personate ctle ducks and prattlers of bot sility personified; soo.

    Sness, an excellent t;; not a dry eye in tried  Juliet and Cordelia and, if necessary, could personate t soubrette; even h!

    Out popped born, ling after to ss and suckle at  s even s in t, Op and ttle Pickle, te kid in terpiece, for to leave tre after a tragedy unless tumes and came back to give ttle sometra to chem up again.

    Little Pickle rousers role. So top buttons of coat to let out a sore, milky breast to pacify little Edgar calls t ed oo voluptuous imitation of a boy, likewise howled and screamed.

    A mug of porter or a bottle of able all time. Ston in o Edgar to suck op crying.

    tor and only ever carried a spear in ten stayed beo look after ttle ones. David Poe tipped a tumbler of neat gin to Edgars lips to keep . temperance  of ttle of ardent spirits and snuggled dotle Edgars longclotage, ero, stitcs flesoget it could under t t preserved trical illusion of Mrs Elizabeteen-inc until tenth.

    Applause rocked round t so believe t s -- Mrs Poe exited ted scene to cram ired tears ran rivers tonous clamour of ts argument sent t last to sleep but ts transparent s vestigial ears in terror.

    (to be born at all mig thing.)

    last t cernoon in a crical boarding-y after many ed bed  on to use a pair of blunt iron tongs to scoop out tant  ented up over Mrs Poes looddlers sa trument and ted silence, like te on ice, and sometootche midwifes pincers.

    It was a girl.

    David Poe spent  in a nearby tavern, ting ted.

    to groantial.  once  lines and began to   evening. Mama slept on t on the beginning of absence.

    one o   on evaporating until ed clean away, leaving beered floorboards.

    As soon as ted  out of bed, sed doo Virginia s because sour of t a to eat o Con; to Norfolk; to Richmond.

    Do is tid  of summer.

    Stripped to  into a glass; test baby must be s mother dies.

    S more rouge on ;My c ered and soon acquired a febrile brilliance t  of t all; red spots brigilton c muscular, palpitating, prominent, litood out of tle Pickles vest and breec  noe t suspension of disbelief and somete, sometal in racted playing boted and appalled tnesses, ures of deatself upon resss friend, t a deaths head.

    t, sullen, Souter signed us. S on Opgown for her farewell.

    ral  of truck sparks from tones in tside. quot;Fat; said Edgar;  t ituted  t extremity in order to transport to a better place but, he coachmans eyes were full of worms.

    told  noake no curtain-calls no matter re plied s: quot;And from ed fless spring.quot; (Not a dry eye in ts o table protectors. Eacoo kissed and parted, Edgar from iny one  lay still and kept ig.  again? tolled: never never never never never.

    Kind Mr Allan of Virginia, Edgars oicular benefactor, le ed o make room for Mr Allan inside it. Edgar o Sout do not t Edgar empty ress o leave  could not be taken a, a feattered memories.

    tEStAMENt OF MRS ELIZABEth POE

    Item: nouris. A tit sucked in a green-room, tcoot, of nouris, ain only t endlessly unsatisified.

    Item: transformation. t relic. Somets on ificial finery and ced ar of t , it rue but Mama slits  to catch her.

    Suck glass je t; brunette turns blonde in the wink of an eye.

    Mama turns round to so the mirror.

    quot;Dont touc;

    And vanision of taffeta.

    Item: t  needs to be extracted. . . but t of memories and  itself in vague sionable dread only at t of carnal connection.

    Item: tality. For, as soon as  c before, sarted to ree t of dying; once so cougion.

    Item: a face, t face of a tragic actor, e skin stretcige bones in a final state of ion.

 The Cabinet of Edgar Allan Poe-2

    Ignited by tossed butt of a still-smouldering cigar t lodged in tre at Ric appearance burned to ter old Edgar  al ly became lived in able mirror and  constrained by t made . But nooo, oucile, unreal mot up togeted scenery.

    tion rose o become a constellation of stars ill nig, rics t  ferments tbreak and fever. (Ouous nigars marked ts of a face folded in sorrow.

    NAtURE OF tRICAL ILLUSION; everything you see is false.

    Consider trical illusion o to it at an age wo be real.

    often oddled on to tage y and tains doing for t wery.

    ed backdrop of, say, an antique castle -- a castle! suc build le all complete ed s of trees, massy oaks or somet, all in tificial s it seems. You knock against a gilded t looks perfectly solid, t side turns out to be made of papier mac is as lig up and carry it off  in it and be a king or lie in it and be in pain.

    A creaking, an ominous rattling scares ttle s out of you; e cries and muttered oatages tomb or Optles in, clutching Yorricks skull.

    tip mugs of sour porter against your lips noe in turned into nuns or sometain t cuts you off from tunate, tobacco-stained multitude t s pennies on to cranscendent rituals noter t make tations felt. A stageo scoop you up and carry you off, protesting, to rain presses ly on your forehe mob.

    On  the mark of Cain.

    an impressionable age, seen ure of tery of tle -- t all its ed cardboard and yet terrify you -- ery and made less sense of it.

    No treat, if  quiet as a mouse, because o stay in tc Opwice nigure.

    A couple of braage in Act Four,  displays of grief from all concerned but up s curtain-call  off ouco curtsy  of ted immortals, all of , in to be just as un-dead as she.

    ruly believe s come again, alt t Mr Allan provided for  of cy, oddled beo tery? Surely, one fine day, tral coacurn again, climb doe nig seen  erim since  sa all bloody from a haemorrhage.

    transparent constellation in t sky ; ttered atoms o tire and perfect Mama and ly to her arms.

    It is teentury. ars of tates.  part of  hid. he becomes a man.

    As soon as s from Edgar. t and pocketbook t Mr Allan opened to togeto expel. Edgar s of t Souto seek une in t does not permit t c live by s.

    tcucked aed Mama but, instead, a perfect stranger. ranced smile, sepped out of the frame.

    quot;My darling, my sister, my life and my bride!quot;

    put out by tender years of t just Juliets age, just teen summers?

    t tresses forming great sint of nevermore, black as s ted moted  t advertise to t of sables, dressed in readiness for t funeral in a black coat buttoned up to tock and rayed e mourning by so muce sfront. Sometimes, o  all.

    , from o make you  you and so mucter gall, also, t you migake  one. tenderness as if he saw already: Dearly beloved wife of. . . carved above her eyebrows.

    For e as marble and s;Virginiaquot;, a name t suited riates nostalgia and also ion, for til the day she died.

    Imagine togety of it!

    For did s come to iffly armoured in taboos -- taboos against tion of caboos against tion of t to put too fine a point on it, didnt s sucty, pretty corpse!

    And, besides, isnt an undemanding, economic, decorative corpse t leman in reduced circumstances, upon o converge?

    Virginia Clemm. In t of norto be quot;clemmedquot; is to be very cold. quot;Im fair clemmed.quot; Virginia Clemm.

    S rious moto clean and cook and keep accounts for to outlive to outlive th.

    Virginia  very clever; sed development, like  sister, icipate, a bud t never opened. (A doom lay upon t tayed as s teen, a simple little t disposition ed to re of dying.

    S on  as a revenant. You em of grass as stle garden.   tage parlour, s gato partake of t ality. t conversation to it t only tea   everyone was charmed.

    to take  at ;yesquot;, and sly struck trings e  you ips to make of  casts all tants of t to a profound and death-like sleep.

    She sings:

    Cold bloonight, my love,

    And a few drops of rain.

    itaper made from a manuscript folded into a flute, akes a lighe fire.

    I never  one true love

    In cold earth she was lain.

    s ligo er ther.

    A th and a day being gone

    to speak.

    Eyes close. ain in each a flame.

    sitting on my grave

    let me sleep?

    All sleep. . She sleeps.

    t from icoats; tal candles s t is not love t moves him; only love moves him.

    he feels no fear.

    An expression of los teet as the midwife did.

    All silent, all still.

    Yet, even as  t fierce canine in triumprate and insensible form in tion  last exorcised turned as desolating anguiso side. Unbidden, ted imperiously: quot;Overture and beginners, please!quot; Sous linen beth a hiss of silk.

    told  hed no more!

    After a breakfast of red-eye, as oilet before t aco become a different man so t ts ly plagued ,  aken on suco t of  one t ruck like a stock or stone, -t razor in his hand.

    And, as inued, fascinated, appalled, to stare in tive glass at tures t   of o agitate itself as if o a tremendous attack of the shakes.

    Goodnig prince.

    to be wo oblivion.

    Lig.

    Noing to dissolve!

    Ligs! ragedy war was engulfing him.

    On cue, t on ts him.

    blohe wind.

 Overture and Incidental Music for A Midsummer Nigh

    Call me the Golden herm.

    My mot, quot;sal, of t boy did die,quot; as my Aunt titania says, t;boyquot; in tances is pus, a bit, so get ting director out of a tig. For quot;boyquot; is correct, as far as it goes, but insufficient. Nor is t Sout rees groiplied far beyond tmost reacultified Europocentric imaginations. C myt of Coramandel far a and precise as lacquer.

    My Aunt titania. Not, I sural aunt, no blood bond, no knot of tion, but my mot friend, to ed me, and, t;auntiequot;.

    titania, s fat, sie tit-tit-tit-ania (for its are tice first, size of barrage balloons), tit-tit-tit-omania boxed me up in a trunk s from tores, labelled it quot;anted on Voyagequot; (oh, yes, indeed!) and shipped me here.

    o -- Atiscard wood. Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain!

    quot;Flaming Junequot;, tic fairies mutter, looking glum, as , poor dears, ttle ered to ter-logged take off and no sooner airborne ting do;Never suc; complain tting on -- I must admit -- a brave if pastel-coloured floral s t dis ed upon tions of dozens and dozens of teeny tiny sneezes, for no place on tomies to store a  shocking colds as well as I.

    Note, peacock-jemare, I call it. t oaks and brougogetottery elms so t t disning, and, at nigars e about your temperate climate, dear, I snap at Aunt titania, but s all on Uncle Oberon,  rain  all time, t. Of ME!

    For Oberon is passing fell and h

    Because t stendant h

    A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king;

    S a changeling;

    And jealous Oberon would he child!

    quot;Boyquot; again, see; . Misinformation. triarco do ; it ie,  it.

    Besides, is a co be stolen? Or given? Or taken? Or sold in bondage, dammit? Are ts of proto-colonialism?

    to all to preserve my complicated integrity, I present a fa?ade of passive opposition. I am here. I am.

    I am  for e verus, one testis, one ovary,  all complete and more, mucs. tly retractable appendage,  tribades , but table reproductive erectile tissue, ure belo is, I assure you, a viable avenue of there.

    take a look. Im not shy. Impressive, huh?

    And I am called tiny, playful cs of beaten gold all over my infant limbs, to wuck and clung. See me shine!

    And and, under trees, in tail dog-daisies and ttercups from y green inging nettles, tuguese men-o-y s met tard-seed and innumerable unknoo-me , pinks, yellorees, all soggy and floral as illiam Morris ain my equilibrium and psycate in ture knoree, t is, on one leg.

    Bearer of botarget,  us, looking a bit ther arm.

    I am golden, stark naked and bi-partite.

    On my golden face, a fixed, arc when --

    Atishoo!

    Damn occidental common cold virus.

    Atishoo.

    tood in the green wood.

    t is a positive maze of false leads. ted someion: ted in til oak, aso make room for a motorructure of tion, in t place, it ive margin to ternity t promised for ; ially, an Englis is the English wood.

    tic forest in calks about in  looking for co eat tative, not a quantitative, difference bet forest. t exist just because a ains ferees t and covers less ground. t is just one of t explain ts of the difference.

    For example, an Englisamorp, by definition, be trackless, alt mig t of a maze, and, even if you cannot find it for a  is truct of t unlike it; lost in t to be lost in t is to be lost to to be abandoned by t, to lose yourself utterly ee you o be committed against your o a perpetual absence; from y, an existential catastrop is as infinitely boundless as t.

    But te, a closure; you purposely mislay your emporary confusion of direction is in ture of a s full of nuts, your  feat forest is ed; ted.

    to a pleasurable titillation of mild fear; t rattle of an ascending p, velvet t;give you a frig;, but,  your spirit because t noture, part of t s of a temperate climate. (, igers burn brig Englisrees to terrify you. All is melloered ligility spirit, lurks in to lovers.

    Indeed, you mig as intentionally ;natural ;, s  an otherness.

    And alo eat! Motures greengrocery store; sorrel for soup, mus and traumn, a plenitude of nuts. Nebuc ite to grass.

    ttle closer to Paradise than we are.

    Sucrue S it is not time, self to be S no need to keep up appearances. No. t described is t of nineteentury nostalgia,  of tal beings ition of an earlier age . Or, raturing, castrating til to look just as tograp so enraptured Conan Doyle. It is Mendelssohns wood.

    quot;Enter ted ; ion?

    turns out, torians did not leave te tate t o find them.

    ted by tic visitor. In some respects, it traction of opposites, for,   all.  the palms of his hands.)

    Sland pony wimes goes on all fours. hen he goes on all fours, he whinnies; or else he barks.

    imes  being t-broside t to be rid of  leave rousers;  of trousers is an insult to  proud. Nesting in  pubic curls, t gleam esticles, wrinkled ripe as medlars.

    Puck loves ions all over tries are all  of kin and not one of to any good. t Puck!

    tender little exiguities t cluster round t like to play ed ag and pulls tasmal legs off ts t draitanias itanias bed so tter in a drenceful!

    Puck is no more polymorp of ticles,  ticularly rancid and offensive about teurism and e do some of ts up to doantly related to t bad god Pan and, whe English public school.

 Overture and Incidental Music for A Midsummer Nigh

    By tation, you know ure of King Oberons.

    en came to frolic round tatue in t glade, alt,  near enougo toucitania foretfully aire around ive, so t s/ er, in toria and Albert Museum. Against transparent, intangible barrier, ten flattened still further his already snub nose.

    t foot from its snug nest in c on t, gracile movement of transition, s/ed on to tus and tayed whey were.

    tig titanias magic, sigepped back a feically to play als call it, cuckoo spit.

    And no passing, clayey mortal, tramping t, , scattering tter like bats in t, just as sucal could never  ticking stock-still as a trance.

    And if you did co spy tle yelloalisman dropped from a gypsy pocket, per, or else t from inside a very expensive cracker.

    Yet, if you picked up tiful object and  on t ig put it down.

    And, if you che eyelids move.

    At .

    Just as your so almost notantial bubbles of t;beingsquot; to o bequot;, may not be properly applied, since, in our sense, t. t be; t cast tences are necessarily moot -- do you believe in fairies? t teasingly almost out of t is possible time, a trick of t. . . suc, is not conducive to any kind of visual consistency among take w shey please.

    turn o anytool, in order to perpetrate ted trick (quot;topples s;) so beloved in t is suitable for c is about fairies; a baby Fiat; a grand piano; anything!

    Except the Golden herm.

    In s,  ers various businesses, tfully lingering outside tside a candy s, in order to take full advantage of ties offered uality migto ;Be Preparedquot;! -- if to be intercourse bet of equipment to to effect maximally satisfactory congress.

    t t of tical partner taco t of to procure a perfect fit and no fumbling; tant inquisitive spy on mortal couples come to make t akenly believed to be privacy, iced tion of  caresses, so t all rigruly require left-o t, and Moture, ook no account of foreplay, winguiss wly.

    try, try as , try and try again, t get it quite riger strenuous effort,  last succeeded in turning o a perfect simulacrum of t odd moments, adopt ture and stand facing atue, except for tion tyromaniac Puck could not subdue whe presence of his love.

    tinued to smile inscrutably, except when he sneezed.

    But all of to. . . ts, of less ts, again. Every last one of tic -- since incorporeal -- substance. Consider the Fairies.

    itania, bears ness to  from t race of titans; and quot;descendquot; mig enoug first, to describe ts ives, aire in an engagement ring, as infinitely little as ely large.

    quot;Noy, but as for my missus --quot; said table orcestershire drawl.

    Like a Japanese er-floer, titania grows. . .

    In tinselled , tumbling babies of trip over tself; tumble in tangled grass as t fieldmice and t Mole and striped Brock ing snout -- all tter round tle on s in  abundance of disordered ed poppies and t.

    trumpets but t lullaby of ura blackbird. Moonligs.

    Sable laid for a ; or, a fertility clinic.

    In  you, you e. her eyes provoke engendering.

    Correction: used to provoke.

    But not ts ed t blossom, rain ted all t gold but greenis . t and, ting bread s refuse to couple; ts to s, o synonymous o curl up ate ting and complex embraces. In te, conventual calm reigns over everyt everybody off.

    tess manifested inguis friends cood on one leg on titanias able, if manic, smile of tic sculpture.

    quot;My  ; cried titania. quot;! I s;

    At t, t, itanias pinafore coug to gnaw.

    But toiny o enjoy y of an acorn-cup.

    quot;But s put lered, already,quot; opined to o ter. For no roe-buck noclered like a ten-point stag.

    Among tre, along ed a quot;robe for to go invisiblequot;. By , you understand t Oberon is to remain unseen as erial but impotent above t years oak leaves t conceal ention t al lovers.

    ure racting a tritonic, numinous, luxuriantly perfumed melody from tune broke off as t fleil its trajectory errupted by a coo  pustule clung. tesimal took up ootling again.

    ten gold but t ed in: black pepper, red curmeric, cloves, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, ginger, mace, nutmeg, allspice, kamarind, coconut, candlenut, lemon grass, galangal and no -- pida.  stuff! ere to be served piled up on a lordly platter and garniss oer casing, s/ royal dised o aid digestion. Notic as ted before in Englands green and pleasant land, still labouring as it is at t in time under its unrelieved late medieval diet of boiled cabbage. t and s as if drenc Oberon is the colour of ashes.

    tormented for lack of tool in t of tant root, o no avail as old s.

    Distemperate s raining, its pouring; trangement from itself, tumble out of t on t a stop to reproduction. But still titania o  let  even for one minute. Did s give a sacred promise to a friend?

    does t?

    ts to kno;quot; means.

    quot;I am unfamiliar  of desire. I am t, paradigmatic e, provoking on all sides desire yet myself transcendent, till eye of tempest, exemplary and self-sufficient, t;

    titania, despairing of t, inserted a tentative forefinger in t bored.

    Oberon cs salivatory perfume. ook off ic and bulked up in t sky over tting out t for  codpiece. tlers on  t,  of yelloionable mammals, doraig. Since ,  on, furtively little skulls,  forget, in German, they call him Erl-King.

    and t and silence, of t, Lord of Plutonic dark.  never sa y -- no  all on eit all  for t meet in the middle.

    Indeed, rust a co this man?

    , s t and ttle silver bells along , tty che air like homunculi wherever he has passed.

    And if  a creature of tten your dreams.

    too, yearning and ted as urning o tly tcallic, double-sexed and extravagantly precious-looking. tood on one leg, ttered.

    Oberon saw him.

    Oberon stooped doood ed Yogic tree, on y look came into Oberons eyes. tion but to go t.

    Atishoo!

    titania tenderly ticoat, on cs are cankering and spotting and coming undone for, if Oberon is ty, titania is tion and, unless ir, no pot stick, the boil.

    Lie close and sleep, said titania to ttress of dandelion down.

    tly started in on a c;Ye spotted snakes ongue,quot; but ed by coug and roms of rampant influenza t tered out before t about ts and after t tire -pattering of the leaves.

    tra s instruments. tain rises. the play begins.

 Peter and the Wolf-1

    At lengtains becomes monotonous; y, to provoke araveller sees t eye of tain line, no trees grow. She sky.

    A girl from a village on t o marry a man ober, torm. ter ed for a message but none arrived. After torm passed, t up to see for aking h her because she was afraid.

    From a long ude yas ude engulfed traces of  left t except some mess t s race of t a gna in a boot.

    t and took it  e. tilated t.

    inter came s, okes ter and sed and it  Cmas, time passed. More children came.

    grandson, Peter, reaco go up tain o let ts feed on ter sat in t, plaiting tras, until aug to fear advancing silently along tcrop of rock. t one.

    If t been t s, of e, giving tly look, as if t of dissolving at tly, plumey tails; te, inquisitive masks.

    ter sa t s head.

    t of ted   en and certainly been beaten to t ts ting and he wolves away.

    oo angry to listen to er said. er round t  at table, so a pot.

    quot;ttle girl ; said Peter.  tle girl? Per;A little girl about my age, from ; he said.

    pod out of t up.

    quot;I satle girl ; he said.

    ipped er into t, got up from table and  of peas on t time, t nig next morning, very early, sook tain.

    quot;tell your fat you told me.quot;

    t to look at tracks. On a bit of dampis, not like t of a dogs pad, muc of a cprint, yet Peter  until .

    quot;Suck up in t all  on t,  s oes, see. . . like t.quot;

    barefoot in summer, like all ted t in t, to s kind of mark oo, always ran on all fours.

    quot;No use for a  ands to reason.quot;

    At last  of Peters poion, giving t. It was a clever child.

    to a perfect C. S somebody caug tigo tc of noers fated it to bits gun. t taken  loose. t thers hand.

    tc until tied s and ankles toget limp. S scream or s, s seem to be able to, stural sounds in t, and, t seem to knoer trickled out of the corners of her eyes.

    bro  uck  y you could not see  migank. S all uck out. tato-fed boy hough she was a year or so older.

    Solemn y, rotted beumped alongside ten ly poked at  buttock  of curiosity, to see   so muccoucruggle; srussed on tended to be dead.

    Grannys er, ts. As soon as it caugabby mouser   to t above. Soup smoked on table   supper-time but still quite lig comes late on tain.

    quot;Untie ; said ther.

    first but t be denied, so  t t s, it  of t of to t but Granny and Peter boto to s t, so s get out.

    trapped one knocked round t table. Crasinkle -- tinkle -- te s s t, and tiffened legs in a il ttled on everyt made everytrange.  frenzy over, sted a moment, questing o make little rusies, now ossing her bewildered head.

    Soes, yet it  quite like croucurally to  pact y too, rong tain, aut t indeed, s back on  tolerable, ts of distress. All you could see of es, we of snow.

    Several times, ly involuntarily. tc even   to ours, trange, unguessable, wicked feeding, s of a wolf.

    Oh, horror!

    So tents put out t soup scalded ting on ers,  paeously from its  before her, she howled, in high, sobbing arcs.

    Even tracted o love ter, was frighe girl howl.

    Peters  gave a  ion of falling;  conscious of  take  of t ly visible to  t  t  very dark; a  top of t it  indoors yet timacy clearly, as if by its oe fascination upon him.

 Peter and the Wolf-2

    s ention or volition, a vie of C seemed to open one upon anoto o an inner, secret place in ion perpetually receded before , devastating, vertiginous intimation of infinity.

    She howled.

    And  on il, from tain, first singly, t last voices in tinued to ragic resonance. Soon it s of to deny to t the village in a pack.

    t railed in t t notion s or t it ers fat it op rung of to come down for he girl jumped up, snarling and showing her long yellow canines.

    tside ated dismay of tic beasts. All t  the door.

    took  t budge but ug and so  let t of  up beo turn time back, so t  ing a side jumped up at it and t  of t to tarted to give. t t, and began to make excited little sallies back and fort of tore out of te soon. tumbled over one anoto get inside.

    Dissonance. terror. t of all ter trapped in a box. t side,   to  as if t snatcoo; but ty o collect terling.

    t beous stence tracks of flour everyinguistered on the floor.

    Peter t t s into excited speec for te old raug  midniger-in-la to ter to scrub t of ters fatable and toget of t; t taken so muc snatched even a single egg.

    People brougo tarligatoes, and snacks, because tement  terrible nigy but t or drink not to bed as soon as her house was clean.

    Next day, s to t for a  s pray. tarted c o leave off because ten ering.

    t er, during ter er asked t to teaco read t gladly complied; Peter  of erest in learning to read.

    t artled and impressed. teased ;Saint Peterquot; but t did not stop o co pray , ed to t o tal infection t aken  of it. onement. Eac, , looking for a clue to grace, until o sleep.

    But, as if to spite ts ly invoked to protect mare regularly disordered ossed and turned on tling stra tle ones.

    Deligers precocious intelligence, t started to teacin. Peter visited t as ies ted. een, t told s t Peter so too become a priest o God, since ranger to ter ts came doure for ter, Peter set off. It ober.

    At t days travel,  ran from tain into ts o te ion t aed roubled for reasons  explain to himself.

    In t lig t no more t doo to drink and to ill hing living.

    you could  ures. Ser so full of mauve lig it looked as if s as it appeared yet all t ude and silence; all still.

    S tion beneat of  kno kind of consciousness t as  innocence or display,  of our first parents, before t repentance  hin her comprehension.

    Language crumbled into dust under t of  of t pay them any heed.

    to tremble and s  melt. hing, or sobbed.

    S t, too, left off tumbling and ran to burro ser a moment, to ter t took  out around her head.

    pelt. ttle cubs fastened ts.

    Peter could not ,  out crying.  cried since ears rolled doo tending to cross over to to join e grace, impelled by t visionary ecstasy. But ook frig t, s a as if t o run too t maze of ted dawn.

    ears on ook off s and dried  and legs on tail of . te somet, and continued on to to o be afraid of.

    igo of freedom.

    s slung over  burden. ed  to t,  till damp.

    tional sun surprised ion and tain noain began to acquire a flat, t urning into a picture of itself, into tcard ily boug a railation or a border post, tting, t range torange cities, otries , at t, imagine,  kno;t was w my c;

    urned and stared at tain for a long time.  for fourteen years but  before as it migo someone  as almost a part of t time, ive, vast, magnificent, barren, unkind, simplicity of tain. As o it,  turn into so muco try tale, tale of a child suckled by wolves, perhaps, or of wolves nursed by a woman.

    terminedly set ooramped ono a different story.

    quot;If I look back again,quot;   gasp of superstitious terror, quot;I surn into a pillar of salt.quot;

 The Kitchen Child-1

    quot;Born in a trunkquot;, trical sups grease-paint  of t it, for  conceived ter souffl¨¦, very cy-five minutes in a medium oven.

    And t souffl¨¦ t ever in o make, ordered up by some Frenc of Sir and Madam, me mam pleased as punco fix it for o our  even during t Grouse S y of t tes like s;Pearls before s; my motantly sent ty courses of  up to t t pigs ell you, try s t, only aff wandards.

    For Madam ouc oysters and grapes on ice times a day, due to t of y, il a devilled bone at sundoed up  of spite. O strikes -- terrible!) And as for ters of Grouse, all ted ell  tastes?

    So me mam took great pains ruction of t lobster souffl¨¦, sending to t itself and t alive,  come squeaking piteously cra of t etc. etc. etc. so me mam all a-flutter before sed the eggs.

    t as s over to stir to tter, a pair of ig. t first, it  kitcco put o t as ser meat, diced up, all nice, s tray higher.

    t ed t.

    And as soppling contents of ten egg- o but so muco te dish abandon and:

    quot;to !quot;

    Into t.

    I draw a veil.

    quot;But, mam!quot; I often begged ; man?quot;

    quot;La to ask. I  ;

    But, no. t up like a montgolfier and, as soon as its golden  t tly drao extract t oocaff, some forty-five in number.

    But not quite exemplary. t cer. te  do;;trop de cayenne,quot; and scraped it off e into t; sified smirk. S and alicular about es. S;; in quot;;.

    My mother weeps for shame.

    quot; al -- o improve le ton,quot; menaces tossing me mam a killing look as s t no room for tes ually by tation of a Car¨ºme or a Soyer acracks to croquembouche rage.

    quot;For isnt it Alberlin, co t ts uck  fat co broad Yorks of  slippers. . .quot;

    Conceived upon a kitcable, born upon a kitco , far more aptly, my arrival  in table fusillade of copper-bottom kitcympani; and tter of ladle against disurnspit dogs all : quot;Bo;

    It being, as you mige, a good tober, Sir and Madam being in London tains a fine style all by ting in aking of t Boo les to  so fetc, just topping tea-cup up airs as if a Cra started up its woodblocks and xylophones, crash, wallop.

    quot; on earto?quot; elocutes t tones, giving t vicious tug to jerk t of her.

    quot;O; quavers ttle skivvyette. quot;tis nobbut t;

    quot;t;

    Due to my mot;oquot; in quot;obesequot;, and t loyalty and affection to, amid o , since s so relieve my mot due to ted arrival and to get in some mincing and pomaded gent to cter up. Beloairs sately yet none too stable progress due to tea s of o the door.

    a spectacle greets  c,  time. My mot , ly sire kitctitudes of adoration, eacensil and giving out t merry rattle of trulys first lullaby.

    Alas, my cradle song soon peters out in tinkle as t  eye.

    quot;s -- ;

    quot;A bonny boy!quot; croons me mam, planting a smacking kiss on tender fore her pillowing bosom.

    quot;Out of t; cries t;; she adds.

    But  (except my mottack truments ing in unison:

    quot;tcc turn out tc;

    And t rutter;  tself, t, if it did not make me, all t caused me to be made? Not one scullery maid nor ttlest vegetable boy could remember   souffl¨¦ morning, every co cut sand so ed to tc to t t gourmet due kept a gourmet valet? Yet lines melt like aspic in t from the range.

    quot;tc;

    tc treated to revive ot of rum in e parlour, for, faced iny amongst ttle valour in  and  to sulk in ent.

    t toys I played ook my batureen in le soup il I could toddle because, as for my crib,  ttle? And ttle oion of nouris, and t kitcs y iny shrine.

    And, indeed, is t somet a great kitcs of soot-darkened stone far above me, al banners t unfurl above tless tive persons on tal vessels dangling from ill needed ing for tion of t of food. And tar, yes, an altar, before wual  upon her upper lip and fire glowing in her cheeks.

    At traiged scrust. I being too little to manage ts me on o c ts me to stamp out tartlets for myself, tears of joy at my precocity trickling doo rouger t, no all stool so I can reaco stir t goes round and round and round me tucks it in at t else I trip over it  into my own e.

 The Kitchen Child-2

    Reading and ing come to me easy. I learn my letters as folloarde); B for boeuf, baron of, roasted mostly, riotically sputtering a in ts, carrottes, c and so on, rigo Zabaglione, alten  be, since it figures in no cooks alp.

    And I stick as close to t kitce to a pat¨¦ or to an oeuf. First, I stand on t stool to my saucepans; turned bucket; t. time passes.

    Life in te mansion floranquil stream, only convulsing into turbulence once a year and t t fuss enoug, o set us by the ears.

    Alt to be tences of eaceric of our beings,  of to life like Sleeping Beauty rut on so  t terruption of our routine. e s out tniglefolk forced by reduced circumstances to take paying guests into te cuisine, forget it; sandwic is sandwiches.

    And never again, ever again, a special request for a souffl¨¦, lobster or otouc, moody, distracted, and, even ter souffl¨¦ all ter, boil it alive, beat tc. etc. etc., as if tual t  of t t question mark from  ime. Or, per sruct t, most savoury souffl¨¦ t ever lobster graced; but nobody arrived to eat it and none of tc. So, fifteen times in all, t t souffl¨¦.

    Until, one fine October day, t rising over team off a consomm¨¦, taking last y meals like condemned men, my mot last rey arrives and as it does algic he lys de France.

    o  dory slab  my maker,  t broods about her.

    But rots into tco pick up t of ice ttles   a beardless boy of ries to quizz s of some otical valet rol of t understand ime in all .

    First, s for s, s for joy, to see he dough. And now she weeps for absence.

    But still ser, for s and ual, if only as a aking matters into my oer, above stairs to make a personal inquiry of to  be.

    t quilted smoking jacket mucs t on very o ive language. And I never sater man; one or t felt t;oquot; in quot;rotundquot;. If aken aback by tion of t of too muc to s by a jump or start, asks,  poi de fran?aise, I stammer out:

    quot;t de c of your last visit --quot;

    quot;A; ;Le pauvre,quot; he adds.

    s lugubriously down his museau.

    quot;Une crise de foie.  mort.quot;

    I blanc gentleman, offers me a restorative snifter of  as it  trust Sirs incinerated tastes, and I can feel it put  as it goes eructating dotle, in ic affability ocrats, I give  of ake to be tances of my conception,  valet er souffl¨¦.

    quot;I  souffl¨¦,quot; says t;Best I ever eat. Sent my compliments to truly exigeant gourmet to go easy on t time.quot;

    So t rut! teful he message!

    I te toucory,  after, my mots up a lobster souffl¨¦ in (I believe) remembrance of Jean-Jacques, and le of bubbly in memory of ted until ting all tion of a tender sensibility, says tear:

    quot;tell you e to my ex-valet, slip do;

    quot;O; I stammer. quot;You are too good!quot;

    Forto tco find my mot beginning tly, as tter melts like t of ted ceals open and in tippytoes ter matc say. tctalion all turn t of respect for tic moment, but I myself, tect of it, cannot forbear to peep.

    o o signify caution and silence, and extends e delicacy and tact, s ure at  miging on . An expression as of a baby in a sie sraverses  Bourbonesque features. tempting to peer over o see terie de cuisine but  gets in the way.

    Per is to s , or else a genuine tribute to  noic grace, he gooses her.

    My motc a sigo bloen egg-, great artist t srembles, not once, as sray  a mite of agitation stirs the spoon.

    For it is, you understand, time for seasoning. And in goes just sufficient cayenne, time. Not a grain more. e a kiss.

    tes topple into ts of  as t in a trap. Surns all into the souffl¨¦ dish.

    weaks.

    And t;to !quot; Departing from t, my mot, smack! doo to th a low moan.

    quot;take t,quot; sly ss the oven.

    quot;; I cry.

    quot;ould you  it touc time?quot;

    t temples  long last o.

    quot;Quelle femme,quot; he murmurs.

    My motopch in hand, pays him no heed.

    quot;S; I explain, overcome .

    quot; dedication!quot;

    truck. ares at my mot enoug ly as a man c .

    quot;I beg you, I implore you --quot;

    But my mothe oven.

    quot;; table queen of all t spreads its arcire kitc leaps upy alone confines it. All present (some forty-seven in number -- tcion of me, plus the duc) applaud and cheer.

    to tc ss ion t noacion and gateau Saint- infrequent babas au r -- I am tcer into my inance; besides,  t (Yorkshe land?

    For am I not tepson?

 The Fall River Axe Murders-1

    Lizzie Borden h an axe

    Gave y whacks

    she had done

    Sy-one.

    Childrens rhyme

    Early in t, 1892, in Fall River, Massacts.

    , , . . . very early in tory , even at ttack of we, furious sun already ill air.

    Its inants o terms ,  is ty more t t makes tolerable; t s o take off t  up to t so ts of trious, self-mortifying saints estant eto a country intended for ta and are proud, proud! of flying in ture. In most latitudes ay all day in penumbra beters; you o make your oo cool yourself  timate decade of t century finds us at t of le, men  into ts, vests and coats and trousers of sturdy te ties, too, t is so virtuous to be uncomfortable.

    And today it is t oucies, already, and ss .

    As far as cloto get off more liger breakfast and ties, Lizzie Borden on frock -- but, under t,  a long, starcton petticoat; anot, starcton petticoat; long draockings; a c t took ern igrapped a ing.

    In all t of sorts and nauseous as sing ,  up a flat-iron on a stove and press ed iron until it is time for o go doo to collect tc ion -- quot;Lizzie Borden ; -- al Cathe emblem of her passion.

    Soon, in just as many clot Miss Lizzie , t girl,  nigick or tles doing company as serwards.

    In a serge suit, one look at  in prickly , Old Borden e toruffling for money like a pig until urn o keep a pressing appointment iny.

    But nobody , yet; it is still early morning, before tory  stillness of  e, t of Nee, and te.

    If en ts of tcs of t and ts of perpetual p on tten, too, t, tic odours -- ill-ely plumbed privies; rotting food; unattended teetreets are no fres acridity of enccic he fishmonger.

    You o your nose. You  t of thed.

    Five living creatures are asleep in a reet, Fall River. t old man oract.  aker but ly branc in several directions and all  of t fiscally gratifying kind.

    But you o look at  less, small and mean -- quot;unpretentiousquot;, you mig --  itself sater days some time ago. t;Andre; in flo on te next to tands by itself  feet of yard on eit is a stable, out of use since  grorees, laden at this season.

    On ticular morning, as luck  daugaken o nearby Neo catcer.

    Feay in Fall River in ting mont but, treet, in t of toed aoo, to a summer o join a merry band of girls but, as if on purpose to mortify ant business kept ed to, s go.

    t belong ing, passing tander, .

    rite  of t.

    Even torically unimpeacic apocalypse must be crude and tic effect.

    rite Jo of t.

    One old man and t.

    ty ters to t stroke of six and Bridgets alarm clock gives a sympatic skip and click as te-utters on ttle  to  top of  Bridgets damp eyelids do not sion as sicking flannel nig on an iron bedstead, lies on aug, to make less trouble for taker.

    Semper is sometimes uncertain and talk back to times, and o confess tience to t. Overcome by  and nausea -- for everyone in to oday -- surn to ttle bed later in tcs rest, upstairs, all  loose, doairs.

    A rosary of bro of t from a Portuguese sograpelpiece t, ts er,  stick. A banged tin trunk at t of ts worldly goods.

    tiff c, a candlestick, matc resounds tallic clang, for it is a joke bet and ress t tory  are just about to blast off, just t to blast off. . .

    A splintered deal o lug er up to t to wipe  wer enougchen sink.

    Old Borden sees no necessity for bat believe in total immersion. to lose ural oils o rob his body.

    A frameless square of mirror reflects in corrugated y soap disaining a quantity of black metal hairpins.

    On brigangles of paper blinds move tiful srees.

    Alt left t into t  of tself tigo tic. A dandruff of spent wewashe ceiling where a fly drearily whines.

    t of sleep, t sisill, all still; in all t tillness on taircase. Stillness pressing against tillness, mortal stillness in ter and Mistress srimonial bed.

    ere t, one could better observe terity of t splas is of ty; torting mirror; no mirror in t take your face and t it. On t-me-nots; on teetly ts underneaty-pins, s etc. ttle  Mrs Borden attaco ime  of Bordens male occupation of trace because  door, on t. . .

    about t to it?

    It leads to tairs.

    And t yet otially concealed behe heavy, mahogany bed?

    If it  kept securely locked, it ake you into Miss Lizzies room.

    One peculiarity of tain and, a furty,  open only into otairs and doairs, all t of one anot is a  passages. t of t  been marked as some inmates personal territory; it is a . It is a .

    to Emmas room is t of Emmas room. It is a dead end.

    tom of locking all tside, dates from a time, a fe came to aken one of trips out togeto a trap and set out for t So ensure enant  bilking ayed at tons more securely or ing letters or contemplating acts of cy among taring vacantly into space.

    I cant imagine  do.

    to me.

    Emma is more mysterious by far t o ter.

    quot;Girlsquot; is, of course, a courtesy term. Emma is o ies, Lizzie in ies, but t marry and so live in tive, protracted childhood.

    er and tress iptoed up tairs to trimonial bedroom and pocketed Mrs Bordens gold ce c under clean union suits in t. truder attempted to force t featureless block of black iron like a slaugar sitting squarely next to t it o penetrate adequately truder tackled it   come off.

    truder pissed and s on tter of t on to t into Old Bordens dressing room to maliciously assault t as it

    in t floor), retired to tcreacle crock, and ty or t lived beside the scullery sink.

    a mess! Lizzie stared  t bang of t ting room?  t dole? S know. S remember.

    All t  once h a cake of soap in her hand.

    So scream and s.

    quot;;

    Emma came doed er ed ttle one since baby ing-room carpet treacle Lizzie racked in from tc in  trance. But of trace could be found.

    I cannot tell you  t utterly disconcerted unned. It violated  took ay in in things.

    t ts ual silence o discuss it. t on tuguese, obviously, but sometimes on trage remained constant and did not diminisime, t varied according to ted t trangers and ne al trangers exclusively; sometimes t t migted the criminal classes.

    y of a poltergeist occurs to Mrs Borden, alt kno epdaugrange one and could make tes jump out of se, if sed to. But ter. Per is ter t  er t our.

    After t door and times if one of tants of t it for just so muco go into t of fallen pears  to  of ook a piss under a tree.

    From time dated tom of locking all tside , and put t of all on tchen shelf.

    to t nature of private property. er undertook an orgy of investment.  ar, for wh an office block?

    A number of leases fell in simultaneously at just time on a certain street in toy and Borden snapped t doone, -iron detail, from y,  reap a fine  of unsaleable rents, and t, like t of Ozymandias, ill, foursquare and reet. Not bad for a fish peddlers son, eh?

    For, alt;Bordenquot; is an ancient name in Neter part of Fall River, our Borden, Old Borden, t spring from a  from o o y but learned to t on property, for t  meaning for t no joy of it, it is stark necessity to them. hoever heard of a penniless miser?

    Morose and gaunt, tion is capital accumulation.

    is his hobby?

    he poor.

    First, Andreaker, and deaty of spindles, fetle caker, no! -- it  true  t off corpses to fit into a job lot of coffins boug  about by his enemies!

    its from  up a tenement or t sed in a bank or t noself,  of all.

    Foreclosures and evictions are meat and drink to ter ttle usury. o  million.

    At nigo save ts in lampless dark. ers trees e not,  not. As soon as tric squares and stores t te t fluso cc. And yet  gro on all ted off icks to  of s is from  profession t ately dignity of a hearse.

    to creet too be filled inctual respect for mortality,  made you too, riumpure it ead of four, in t place! For  ion it ual reminder to all  natural to be uprig it is a triumpy, in itself a transcendence of t over matter.

    born, impossible to imagine t spine of Old Bordens curled up in tus; s at neit   trembling earth like a bailiff pounding a door.

    e, crap beard, old-fas peace alents as the Good Book says he should.

    Yet do not t spot. Like Old Lear,  -- and, more t, ty in  daug see it, it lies under t a  a rinket for a fabulously misant daug to  sco , alo to ible day.

    s over cap, and urned towards y years, as is o his.

    tt in person, all and gaunt as a tle dougton, a solitary eater, most innocent of vices and yet to eat up all t, since fate  spread ly large table for ions, e, inglorious Napoleon,  knoy -- since  access to tire y of Fall River. But s gently, continuously stuffs  s somet the cud, perhaps.

    Not t ss muc, eit, sating te difference beto do so even if sion; sisfied to stick to simple gluttony and sones of ty of indulgence. Since s one single mouts, stony is no transgression.

 The Fall River Axe Murders-2

    ogets of t  greedy because the grub she shovels down gives her dyspepsia.

    Ss rougcerion. Bread, meat, cabbage, potatoes -- Abby  made  merrily slaps on table boiled dinners, boiled fish, cornmeal mush, Indian pudding, johnnycakes, cookies.

    But touctle meal cookies, raisin cookies. But icky bro too far, t sin mig around tomac immediately palpitate like a guilty conscience.

    dress is cut on ts except for tall. t is t wife died.

    Last nigor oil, due to tion t kept ting t before t; ts of ts beneat is fit to make a se.

    Back to back t a s, ained room, in o move.

    t daughe locked door.

    Look at ty!

    Sop s and  tside, to s sun floods t t so bed as for a lev¨¦e in a pretty, ruffled nigce muslin el pink satin ts of t not t;naugiesquot; every teamseriors? But dont to e Carlo tticoats for fun and profit, but not in Fall River. Oable privacy of , Lizzie puts on a ricty nigoo.

    But she is plain.

    tdress is rucked up above less sleeper. , dry, reddisatic, slipping loose from t-time plait, crisps and stutters over t wcomaced arc some earlier hour.

    Lizzie  an affectionate diminutive but tened. Since s;Lizziequot;, so e and fancy prolongation of quot;Elizabet;? A miser in everyt to ;Lizziequot; it ark and unadorned, and s thing.

    Noy and yet t mot remember remains an abiding source of grief: quot;If mot.quot;

    in , lost in a nostalgia for unkno ter ter, Emma, reasures of a Neers  upon ttle t, perural mot Mrs Borden, subject as so fits of sudden, c to Old Borden on ? But Lizzie loves . Lizzie adores ter ook to her wife.

    tctle, like ts. isfying, full of vague terrors and indeterminate menaces to  a name or form once s all s, stifling nigroubled, too, by vague nausea and tallic smell of menstrual blood.

    Yesterday evening s of to visit a ated; s picking nervously at t of her dress.

    quot;I am afraid. . . t somebody. . . ; said Lizzie.

    quot;Mrs Borden. . .quot; and  at Miss Russell. . . quot;Mrs Borden -- orying to poison us!quot;

    So call epmot;mot;, as duty bade, but, after a quarrel about money after y to epmoty, spoke of quot;Mrs Bordenquot; ; to oo.

    quot;Last nig felt myself all day, I  so strange. So very. . . strange.quot;

    For t fits. Since a c;peculiar spellsquot;, as time called odd lapses of beed, involuntary trances, moments of disconnection. times o discover an explanation o mention t;peculiar spellsquot;. Everyone kne the Borden girls.

    quot;Somete? It must en.  erdays supper?quot; solicitously queried kind Miss Russell.

    quot;armed-over s take muc ed up tovers for supper but, again, for myself, I could only get doe up te  t.quot; (Note of smugness, here.)

    quot;O, t! t ster to give you twice-cooked fis;

    It  time of too; ell by a certain  ility forbade o mention t. But  it into  tire ?

    quot;ts,quot; Lizzie pursued remorselessly, keeping ips. quot;So many people, you understand, dislike fat;

    t be denied. Miss Russell politely remained mute.

    quot;Mrs Borden oor and sed at old  pay a doctors bills ed at tor and all t; and , pale eyelas on ;suc, yes of deatside t odd, at unexpected e at nig sleep in t, trees, in ts poison in ter t;

    quot;ing you?quot; asked Miss Russell, properly dismayed.

    quot;Since. . . t; said Lizzie and suddenly looked Miss Russell full in triump, yet veiled. And  on pecking a t of rying to unpick the shirring.

    Miss Russell kne of Lizzies imagination. All in a rus patience anding outside  s about for o reassure.

    quot;But Bridget is up and about  is busy and bustling, too;  poison in eit  looks on? O is t, tolerable  ts put us all out of sorts, makes us fractious and nervous, makes us sick. So easy to imagine terrible  taints t youd planned to go ao t you plan to take a little ;

    Lizzie neit continues to   ant business in Fall River? Only t morning,  been doo tore to try to buy some prussic acid  ell kind Miss Russell so stay in Fall River and murder s?

    S to tore on treet in order to buy prussic acid but nobody  to y- talk of poison in ting  opsy race of poison in tomac. S try to poison t in mind to poison t so buy poison. t can she be planning, now?

    quot;And t; so t;o upon an axe!quot;

    badly.

    room of not ungenerous dimensions, seeing t is ting room and oo, for tacked  books of table organisations ime. t and Flo old in al s; tian temperance Union, for s signatures for petitions against tian Endeavour,  is -- to committees  ers of to exist? trougion; and tion -- no class nor kind is safe from y.

    Bureau; dressing-table; closet; bed; sofa. Sure in a circumscribed, undeviating, planetary round. S all day. A sains a book or ty Did. On tograpimentally inscribed, ucked inside one frame, a picture postcard sten peeking tercolour of a Cape Cod seascape executed  amateur incompetence. A monocograp, a Delia Robbia madonna and t in tively o Europe.

    Europe!

    For dont you remember y did next? tory-book ook teamso smoky old London, to elegant, fascinating Paris, to sunny, antique Rome and Florence, tory-book self before eresting series of magic-lantern slides on a gigantic screen. All is present and all unreal. tore Dame; click. tine Cs go out and she dark again.

    Of tained only t circumspect of souvenirs, t madonna, t Mona Lisa, reproductions of objects of art consecrated by a universal approval of taste. If samped quot;Never to be Forgottenquot;, s t out to see it and on o dream, transformed not into lived experience but into memory, wher kind of dreaming.

    istfully: quot;;

    But ts ;;

    Because a good deal, in fact most, of tification trip gave  out from Fall River  group of ters of respectable and affluent mill-oreet, so move comfortably in t of Fall River society to  from ricities excluded ate-rooms, sravelled togeteel gaggle t bore its doom already upon it, for t marry, no ained from ty and excitement of trip ing up lements.

    All girls pusy, privileged to go out and look at to tion of Neer it  touc not get tied or tionate companionse ain steadfast, determined quality about it as t of t.

    It rip, in some  rip, it ended at t  out. le, and t, epmotting in t budged a single inc ster.

    tepmother oppressed her like a spell.

    to oture and never anyto look foro, nothing.

    to s for Lizzies trip to Europe, to see daylig no extravagance is too excessive for ter  so pleases  and o dress up fine! Sed to dandyism. s for   to the deserving poor.

    lives under the dollar.

    S, a kitten or a puppy, soo, poor, able all er. So keep some er pigeons in table, t look like stlecocks and go quot;vroo crooquot;, soft as a cloud.

    Surviving pograp is difficult to look at as if you kne s cast ts  -- someterrible, somets jutting, rectangular jas, eyes t belong to a person en to you. . . fanatics eyes, you mig ing tograpicular, sepia, faded face above t murmur  t not even pause to pick  and look at , in itself, a striking face.

    But as soon as t it  it again and again, it secretes mystery.

    tration-camp attendant, and such eyes. . .

    In ruly  ed from ted by   ograp look so mucreme solitude, oblivious of t camera in   surprise you to learn t she is blind.

    times looks at times  eyes, as ther person.

    quot;Lizzie is not oday.quot;

    At times, times, so some aching moon and howled.

    At otimes, scrying orting mirror reflects y of er. Ss on dresses and takes t . Ss ape-measure. Sigs ries on a , a little , a ctle straoque. Sures it pin. S up. Sakes t off. Spin into it rengt know she possessed.

    time goes by and nothing happens.

    Sraces tlines of ain ening t it isnt time to do t, yet: s ready to be seen, yet.

    She is a girl of Sargasso calm.

    So keep  above table and feed t of to feel t scratc;vroo crooquot; e tenderness. Ser every day and cleaned up t Old Borden took a dislike to t got on   ed some, t on ternoon ook out tc from t off, he did.

    Abby fancied tered pigeons for a pie but Bridget t girl put  do t:  of Miss Lizzies beloved turtledoves? JesusMaryandJoseperistic impetuousness, urns and all! (ts trut.) Lizzie came  and Flo to an old ; At hers.

    S  isnt ure, sill ers, but, tled red. ter try and pays for everyts, but all ted to gobble them up.

    t is . t is ands it. S bear to cepmot, noakes seems to go: quot;Vroo croo.quot;

    Old Borden cleaned off tc and put it back in t to t doo inspect trument of destruction. S up and weig in her hand.

    t  the spring.

    tced mec relax, just  relax, sension, saut as trings of a  tunes t are not our tunes.

    At t stroke of ty  factory er blares, and te, anotacomet Mill, til every mill in tire to aloud in a common ant alleys o loom, to bobbin, to spindle, to dye-so places of s blacken, tter of the mills commences.

    Bridgets clock leaps and ss c to sound its oal day, trembles on the brink of beginning.

    Outside, above, in ts on tree.