<
girls laughing in their shawls and their tall combs
and the auctions in the morning
the Greeks and the jews and the Arabs and the devil knows who else
from all the ends of Europe
and Duke street and the fowl market all clucking outside Larby Sharons
and the poor donkeys slipping half asleep
and the vague fellows in the cloaks asleep in the shade on the steps
and the big wheels of the carts of the bulls
and the old castle thousands of years old
yes
and those handsome Moors all in white and turbans like kings
asking you to sit down in their little bit of a shop
and Ronda with the old windows of the posadas
2 glancing eyes a lattice hid
for her lover to kiss the iron
and the wineshops half open at night
and the castanets
and the night we missed the boat at Algeciras
the watchman going about serene with his lamp
and O that awful deepdown torrent O
and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like fire
and the glorious sunsets and the figtrees in the Alameda gardens
yes
and all the queer little streets and the pink and blue and yellow houses
and the rosegardens and the jessamine and geraniums and cactuses
and Gibraltar as a girl where I was a Flower of the mountain
yes
when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used
or shall I wear a red
yes
and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall
and I thought well as well him as another
and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again
yes
and then he asked me would I
yes
to say yes my mountain flower
and first I put my arms around him
yes
and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume
yes
and his heart was going like mad
and yes I said yes I will Yes.
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Findlaters
and get them to send us some flowers to put about the place
in case he brings him home tomorrow
today I mean
no no Fridays an unlucky day
first I want to do the place up someway
the dust grows in it I think while Im asleep
then we can have music and cigarettes
I can accompany him first
I must clean the keys of the piano with milk
whatll I wear
shall I wear a white rose
or those fairy cakes in Liptons
I love the smell of a rich big shop at 7d a lb
or the other ones with the cherries in them and the pinky sugar 11d
a couple of lbs of those
a nice plant for the middle of the table
Id get that cheaper in
wait wheres this I saw them not long ago
I love flowers
Id love to have the whole place swimming in roses
God of heaven theres nothing like nature
the wild mountains then the sea and the waves rushing
then the beautiful country with the fields of oats and wheat
and all kinds of things
and all the fine cattle going about
that would do your heart good to see
rivers and lakes and flowers
all sorts of shapes and smells and colours
springing up even out of the ditches
primroses and violets
nature it is
as for them saying theres no God
I wouldnt give a snap of my two fingers for all their learning
why dont they go and create something I often asked him
atheists or whatever they call themselves
go and wash the cobbles off themselves first
then they go howling for the priest and they dying and why
why
because theyre afraid of hell on account of their bad conscience
ah yes I know them well
who was the first person in the universe before there was anybody
that made it all
who
ah that they dont know
neither do I so there you are
they might as well try to stop the sun from rising tomorrow
the sun shines for you he said
the day we were lying among the rhododendrons on Howth head
in the grey tweed suit and his straw hat
the day I got him to propose to me
yes
first I gave him the bit of seedcake out of my mouth
and it was leapyear like now
yes
16 years ago my God
after that long kiss I near lost my breath
yes
he said I was a flower of the mountain
yes
so we are flowers all a womans body
yes
that was one true thing he said in his life
and the sun shines for you today
yes
that was why I liked him because I saw he understood
or felt what a woman is
and I knew I could always get round him
and I gave him all the pleasure I could
leading him on till he asked me to say yes
and I wouldnt answer first only looked out over the sea and the sky
I was thinking of so many things he didnt know of
Mulvey and Mr Stanhope and Hester and father and old captain Groves
and the sailors playing
all birds fly and I say stoop
and washing up dishes they called it on the pier
and the sentry in front of the governors house
with the thing round his white helmet
poor devil half roasted
and the Spanish
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<
yes and damn well fucked too
up to my neck nearly not by him
5 or 6 times handrunning
theres the mark of his spunk on the clean sheet
I wouldnt bother to even iron it out
that ought to satisfy him
if you dont believe me feel my belly
unless I made him stand there and put him into me
Ive a mind to tell him every scrap and make him do it out in front of me
serve him right its all his own fault if I am an adulteress
as the thing in the gallery said
O much about it if thats all the harm ever we did in this vale of tears
God knows its not much
doesnt everybody only they hide it
I suppose thats what a woman is supposed to be there for
or He wouldnt have made us the way He did so attractive to men
then if he wants to kiss my bottom Ill drag open my drawers
and bulge it right out in his face as large as life
he can stick his tongue 7 miles up my hole as hes there
my brown part
then Ill tell him I want £1 or perhaps 30/
Ill tell him I want to buy underclothes
then if he gives me that well he wont be too bad
I dont want to soak it all out of him like other women do
I could often have written out a fine cheque for myself
and write his name on it for a couple of pounds
a few times he forgot to lock it up
besides he wont spend it
Ill let him do it off on me behind
provided he doesnt smear all my good drawers
O I suppose that cant be helped
Ill do the indifferent l or 2 questions
Ill know by the answers
when hes like that he cant keep a thing back
I know every turn in him
Ill tighten my bottom well and let out a few smutty words
smellrump or lick my shit or the first mad thing comes into my head
then Ill suggest about
yes O wait now
sonny my turn is coming
Ill be quite gay and friendly over it
O but I was forgetting this bloody pest of a thing
pfooh you wouldnt know which to laugh or cry
were such a mixture of plum and apple
no Ill have to wear the old things
so much the better
itll be more pointed
hell never know whether he did it or not
there thats good enough for you
any old thing at all
then Ill wipe him off me just like a business
his omission
then Ill go out
Ill have him eying up at the ceiling where is she gone now
make him want me
thats the only way
a quarter after what an unearthly hour
I suppose theyre just getting up in China now
combing out their pigtails for the day
well soon have the nuns ringing the angelus
theyve nobody coming in to spoil their sleep
except an odd priest or two for his night office
or the alarmclock next door at cockshout
clattering the brains out of itself
let me see if I can doze off 1 2 3 4 5
what kind of flowers are those they invented
like the stars
the wallpaper in Lombard street was much nicer
the apron he gave me was like that
something
only I only wore it twice
better lower this lamp and try again so as I can get up early
Ill go to Lambes there beside
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<
or thing
pity I never tried to read that novel cantankerous Mrs Rubio lent me
by Valera with the questions in it all upside down the two ways
I always knew wed go away in the end
I can tell him the Spanish and he tell me the Italian
then hell see Im not so ignorant
what a pity he didnt stay
Im sure the poor fellow was dead tired and wanted a good sleep badly
I could have brought him in his breakfast in bed with a bit of toast
so long as I didnt do it on the knife for bad luck
or if the woman was going her rounds with the watercress
and something nice and tasty
there are a few olives in the kitchen he might like
I never could bear the look of them in Abrines
I could do the criada
the room looks all right since I changed it the other way
you see something was telling me all the time
Id have to introduce myself not knowing me from Adam
very funny wouldnt it
Im his wife
or pretend we were in Spain with him half awake
without a Gods notion where he is
dos huevos estrellados senor
Lord the cracked things come into my head sometimes
itd be great fun supposing he stayed with us
why not theres the room upstairs empty
and Millys bed in the back room
he could do his writing and studies at the table in there
for all the scribbling he does at it
and if he wants to read in bed in the morning like me
as hes making the breakfast for 1 he can make it for 2 Im sure
Im not going to take in lodgers off the street for him
if he takes a gesabo of a house like this
Id love to have a long talk with an intelligent welleducated person
Id have to get a nice pair of red slippers
like those Turks with the fez used to sell
or yellow
and a nice semitransparent morning gown that I badly want
or a peachblossom dressing jacket
like the one long ago in Walpoles only 8/6 or 18/6
Ill just give him one more chance
Ill get up early in the morning
Im sick of Cohens old bed
in any case I might go over to the markets to see all the vegetables
and cabbages and tomatoes and carrots and all kinds of splendid fruits
all coming in lovely and fresh
who knows whod be the 1st man Id meet
theyre out looking for it in the morning
Mamy Dillon used to say
they are and the night too
that was her massgoing
Id love a big juicy pear now to melt in your mouth
like when I used to be in the longing way
then Ill throw him up his eggs
and tea in the moustachecup she gave him to make his mouth bigger
I suppose hed like my nice cream too
I know what Ill do Ill go about rather gay
not too much singing a bit now and then
mi fa pieta Masetto
then Ill start dressing myself to go out
presto non son piu forte
Ill put on my best shift and drawers
let him have a good eyeful out of that
to make his micky stand for him
Ill let him know if thats what he wanted
that his wife is fucked
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<
killing one another and slaughtering
when do you ever see women rolling around drunk like they do
or gambling every penny they have and losing it on horses
yes because a woman whatever she does she knows where to stop
sure they wouldnt be in the world at all only for us
they dont know what it is to be a woman and a mother
how could they
where would they all of them be if they hadnt all
a mother to look after them what I never had
thats why I suppose hes running wild now
out at night away from his books and studies
and not living at home on account of the usual rowy house I suppose
well its a poor case that those that have a fine son like that
theyre not satisfied and I none
was he not able to make one
it wasnt my fault
we came together when I was watching the two dogs
up in her behind in the middle of the naked street
that disheartened me altogether
I suppose I oughtnt to have buried him in that little woolly jacket I knitted
crying as I was
but give it to some poor child
but I knew well Id never have another
our 1st death too it was
we were never the same since
O Im not going to think myself into the glooms about that any more
I wonder why he wouldnt stay the night
I felt all the time it was somebody strange he brought in
instead of roving around the city meeting God knows who
nightwalkers and pickpockets
his poor mother wouldnt like that if she was alive
ruining himself for life perhaps
still its a lovely hour
so silent
I used to love coming home after dances
the air of the night
they have friends they can talk to
weve none
either he wants what he wont get
or its some woman ready to stick her knife in you
I hate that in women
no wonder they treat us the way they do
we are a dreadful lot of bitches
I suppose its all the troubles we have makes us so snappy
Im not like that
he could easy have slept in there on the sofa in the other room
I suppose he was as shy as a boy he being so young
hardly 20
of me in the next room
hed have heard me on the chamber
arrah what harm
Dedalus I wonder
its like those names in Gibraltar
Delapaz Delagracia they had the devils queer names there
father Vilaplana of Santa Maria that gave me the rosary
Rosales y OReilly in the Calle las Siete Revueltas
and Pisimbo and Mrs Opisso in Governor street
O what a name
Id go and drown myself in the first river if I had a name like her
O my and all the bits of streets
Paradise ramp and Bedlam ramp and Rodgers ramp and Crutchetts ramp
and the devils gap steps
well small blame to me if I am a harumscarum
I know I am a bit
I declare to God I dont feel a day older than then
I wonder could I get my tongue round any of the Spanish
como esta usted muy bien gracias y usted
see I havent forgotten it all
I thought I had only for the grammar
a noun is the name of any person place
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<
all those desires for Id like to know
I cant help it if Im young still can I
its a wonder Im not an old shrivelled hag before my time
living with him so cold
never embracing me except sometimes when hes asleep
the wrong end of me
not knowing I suppose who he has
any man thatd kiss a womans bottom
Id throw my hat at him after that
hed kiss anything unnatural
where we havent 1 atom of any kind of expression in us
all of us the same
2 lumps of lard
before ever Id do that to a man
pfooh the dirty brutes
the mere thought is enough
I kiss the feet of you senorita
theres some sense in that
didnt he kiss our halldoor yes he did
what a madman nobody understands his cracked ideas but me
still of course a woman wants to be embraced
20 times a day almost to make her look young
no matter by who so long as to be in love or loved by somebody
if the fellow you want isnt there
sometimes by the Lord God
I was thinking would I go around by the quays there some dark evening
where nobodyd know me
and pick up a sailor off the sea thatd be hot on for it
and not care a pin whose I was
only do it off up in a gate somewhere
or one of those wildlooking gipsies in Rathfarnham
had their camp pitched near the Bloomfield laundry
to try and steal our things if they could
I only sent mine there a few times for the name model laundry
sending me back over and over some old ones odd stockings
that blackguardlooking fellow with the fine eyes
peeling a switch attack me in the dark
and ride me up against the wall without a word
or a murderer anybody
what they do themselves
the fine gentlemen in their silk hats
that K C lives up somewhere this way
coming out of Hardwicke lane
the night he gave us the fish supper
on account of winning over the boxing match
of course it was for me he gave it
I knew him by his gaiters and the walk
and when I turned round a minute after just to see
there was a woman after coming out of it too
some filthy prostitute
then he goes home to his wife after that
only I suppose the half of those sailors are rotten again with disease
O move over your big carcass out of that for the love of Mike
listen to him
the winds that waft my sighs to thee
so well he may sleep and sigh the great Suggester
Don Poldo de la Flora
if he knew how he came out on the cards this morning
hed have something to sigh for
a dark man in some perplexity
between 2 7s too in prison
for Lord knows what he does that I dont know
and Im to be slooching around down in the kitchen
to get his lordship his breakfast while hes rolled up like a mummy
will I indeed
did you ever see me running
Id just like to see myself at it
show them attention and they treat you like dirt
I dont care what anybody says
itd be much better for the world to be governed by the women in it
you wouldnt see women going and
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1st thing in the morning
till I see if the wishcard comes out
or Ill try pairing the lady herself and see if he comes out
Ill read and study all I can find or learn a bit off by heart
if I knew who he likes
so he wont think me stupid
if he thinks all women are the same
and I can teach him the other part
Ill make him feel all over him till he half faints under me
then hell write about me lover and mistress publicly too
with our 2 photographs in all the papers when he becomes famous
O but then what am I going to do about him though
no thats no way for him
has he no manners nor no refinement nor no nothing in his nature
slapping us behind like that on my bottom because I didnt call him Hugh
the ignoramus
that doesnt know poetry from a cabbage
thats what you get for not keeping them in their proper place
pulling off his shoes and trousers there on the chair before me
so barefaced without even asking permission
and standing out that vulgar way in the half of a shirt they wear
to be admired like a priest or a butcher
or those old hypocrites in the time of Julius Caesar
of course hes right enough in his way to pass the time as a joke
sure you might as well be in bed with what with a lion
God Im sure hed have something better to say for himself
an old Lion would
O well I suppose its because they were so plump and tempting
in my short petticoat he couldnt resist
they excite myself sometimes
its well for men
all the amount of pleasure they get off a womans body
were so round and white for them always
I wished I was one myself for a change just to try
with that thing they have swelling up on you so hard
and at the same time so soft when you touch it
my uncle John has a thing long
I heard those cornerboys saying passing the corner of Marrowbone lane
my aunt Mary has a thing hairy
because it was dark and they knew a girl was passing
it didnt make me blush
why should it either
its only nature
and he puts his thing long into my aunt Marys hairy etcetera
and turns out to be you put the handle in a sweepingbrush
men again all over
they can pick and choose what they please
a married woman or a fast widow or a girl for their different tastes
like those houses round behind Irish street
no
but were to be always chained up
theyre not going to be chaining me up
no damn fear
once I start I tell you
for their stupid husbands jealousy
why cant we all remain friends over it instead of quarrelling
her husband found it out what they did together
well naturally and if he did can he undo it
hes coronado anyway whatever he does
and then he going to the other mad extreme
about the wife in Fair Tyrants
of course the man never even casts a 2nd thought on the husband
or wife either
its the woman he wants and he gets her
what else were we given
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