ULYSSES
{u21, 822}
Yes because he
never did a thing like that before as ask to get his breakfast in bed with a
couple of eggs since
the City
Armsº
hotel when
he used to be
pretending to be laid up
with a sick
voice doing his
highness to make himself interesting
forº that old faggot Mrs Riordan that he
thought he had a
great leg of and she never left us a farthing all for masses for herself and
her soul greatest
miser ever was actually afraid to lay out 4d
for her methylated
spirit telling
me all her ailments she had
too much old
chat in her about politics and earthquakes and
the end of the
world let us have a bit of fun first God help the world if all the women
were her sort down
on bathingsuits and lownecks of course nobody wanted her to wear
themº I suppose
she was pious
because no man would look at her twice I hope Ill never be like her
a wonder she didnt
want us to cover our faces but she was a welleducated woman certainly and
her gabby talk
about Mr Riordan here and Mr Riordan there I suppose he was glad to get shut of
her and her dog
smelling my fur
and always edging to get up under my petticoats
especially then
still I like that in him
polite to old
women like that
and waiters
and beggars too
hes not proud out of nothing but not always if ever he got anything really
serious the matter with him
its much better for
them to go into a hospital where everything is clean but I suppose Id
have to dring it into
him for a month yes and then wed have
a hospital nurse
next thing on the carpet have him staying there till they throw him out or a nun
maybe like the smutty
photo he has shes
as much a nun as Im not yes because
theyre so weak and
puling when theyre sick they want a woman to get well if
his nose bleeds
{u21, 823}
youd think it was O tragic and that dyinglooking one off the south circular
when he sprained his foot at the choir party at the
sugarloafº
Mountain the day I wore that dress Miss Stack bringing him flowers the worst old
ones she could find at the bottom of the basket anything at all to get into a
mans bedroom with her
old maids voice
trying to imagine he was dying on account of her to never see thy face again
though he looked
more like a man with his beard a bit grown in the bed father was the same
besides I hate bandaging and dosing when he cut his toe with the razor paring
his corns afraid hed get blood poisoningº
but if it was a thing
I was sick then wed see what attention
only of course the
woman hides it not to give all the trouble they do yes
he came somewhere Im
sure by his appetite anyway
love its not or
hed be off his
feed thinking of her so either it was one of those night women if it was
down there he was really and the hotel story he made up a pack of lies to hide
it planning it Hynes
kept me who did I
meet ah yes I met do you remember Menton and who else who let me see
that big babbyface
I saw him and he not long married
flirting with a
young girl at
Pooles
Myrioramaº and
turned my back on
him when he
slinked out
looking quite conscious what harm but he had the impudence to make up to me one
time well done to
him mouth
almighty and his
boiled eyes of all
the big stupoes I
ever met and thats called a solicitor only for
I hate having a long
wrangle in bed or else
if its not that
its some little bitch or other he got in with somewhere or
picked up
on the sly
if they only knew him
as well as I do yes because the day before yesterday he was scribbling
something a letter when I came into the front
roomº to
show him Dignams
death in the paper as
if something
told me and he
covered it up with the blottingpaper pretending to be thinking about
business so very probably that was it to somebody who thinks she has a
softy in him
because all men get a bit like that
at his age
especially getting on to forty he is now so as to
wheedle any money
she can out of him no
fool like an old fool and then the usual kissing
my bottom was to
hide it not that I
care two straws nowº
who he does it
with or knew before that way though Id like to find out so long as I dont
have the two of them under my nose all the time like that slut
{u21, 824}
that Mary we had in
Ontario
terraceº padding out her false bottom
to excite him bad enough
to get the smell of
those painted women off him once or twice I had a suspicion by getting him to
come near me when I found the long hair on his coat without that one when I
went into the kitchen pretending he was drinking water 1 woman is not enough for
them it was all his
fault of course ruining servants then
proposing that she
could eat at our table on Christmas
dayº
if you please O
no thank you not in my house stealing my potatoes and the oysters 2/6 per doz
going out to see her aunt if you please common robbery so it was
but I was sure he had
something on with that one
it takes me to find
out a thing like that he said you have no proof it was her proof O yes her
aunt was very fond of oysters but
I told her what I
thought of her suggesting me to go out
to be alone with
her I wouldnt
lower myself to spy on them
the garters I found
in her room the Friday she was out that was enough for me
a little bit too
muchº
her face swelled
up on her
with temper when I
gave her her weeks notice
I saw to
thatº
better do without
them altogether
do out the rooms
myself quicker only for the damn cooking and throwing out the dirt
I gave it to him
anyhow either she or
me leaves the house
I couldnt even touch
him if I thought he was with a dirty
barefaced
liar and sloven like
that one
denyingº
it up to my face
and singing about the
place in the W
C too because she
knew she was too well off yes because he couldnt possibly do without it that
long so he must do
it somewhere and the last time he came on my bottom when was it the night
Boylan gave my hand
a great squeeze going along by the Tolka in my hand there steals another I
just pressed the back of his like that with my thumb
to squeeze back
singing the young May Moonº shes beaming
love because he has an idea about him and me hes not such a fool
he said Im dining
out and going to the Gaiety though Im not going to give him the satisfaction
in any case God knows
hes
aº
change in a way
not to be always and
ever wearing the
same old hat
unless I paid some
nicelooking boy to do it since I cant do it myself a young boy would like me
Id confuse him a little
alone with him
if we were Id let
him see my garters the new ones and
make him turn
red looking at him seduce him I know
{u21, 825}
what boys feel
with that down on
their cheek doing that frigging
drawing out the
thing by the hour question and answer would you do this that and the other
with the coalman yes with a bishop yes I would because I told him about
some Dean or
Bishopº
was sitting beside
me in the jews
Templesº gardens
when I was
knitting that woollen thing a stranger to Dublin what place was it and so on
about the monuments
and he tired me out
with statues
encouraging him
making him worse than he is who is in your mind now tell me
who are you thinking
of who is it tell me his name who tell me who the
Germanº
Emperor is it yes
imagine Im him think of him can you feel him
trying to make a whore
of me what he never will he ought to give it up now at this age of his life
simply ruination for any woman and no satisfaction in it
pretending to
like it
till he comes and
then finish it off
myself anyway and
it makes your lips
pale anyhow its done now
once and for all
with all the talk of the world about it people make
its only the first
time after that its just the ordinary do it and think no more about it
why cant you kiss a
man without going
and marrying him first
you sometimes love
to wildly when you feel that way
so nice all
over you you cant
help yourself I
wish some manº
or other would take
me sometime when hes there and kiss me in his arms
theres nothing like a
kiss long and
hot down to your
soul almost
paralyses you
then I hate that
confession when
I used to go to Father Corrigan he touched me father
and what harm if he
did where and I
said on the canal bank like a fool but whereabouts on your person
my child
on the leg behind
high up was it yes rather high up was it where you sit down yes O
Lordº couldnt he say bottom right out and
have done with it
what has that got to
do with it and did you whatever way he put it I forget no father and I
always think of the real father what did he want to know for
when I already
confessed it to God
he had a nice fat
hand the
palm moist
always I wouldnt mind feeling it neither would he Id say by the
bullneck
in his
horsecollar I wonder did he know me in the box
I could see his face
he couldnt see mine of course hed never turn or let on still his eyes were
red when his father died theyre lost for a woman of course
must be terrible when
a man cries let
alone them Id like to be
{u21, 826}
embraced by one in his vestments and the smell of incense off him like the
pope besides
theres no danger with a priest if youre married hes too careful about
himself then give something to
H H the pope for
a penance I wonder was
he satisfied with me
one thing I didnt like
his slapping me behind going away so familiarly in the hall though I laughed Im
not a horse or an ass am I I suppose he was thinking of his
fatherº
I wonder is he awake
thinking of me
or dreaming am I in
it who gave him
that flower he said he bought
he smelt of some
kind ofº
drink not
whisky or stout
or perhaps the
sweety kind of paste they stick their bills up with some
liqueurº
Id like
to sip
those richlooking
green and yellow expensive drinks those
stagedoor
johnnies drink with the opera hats
I tasted once with
my finger dipped out of
that American that
had the squirrel
talking stamps
with father he had all he could do to keep himself from falling asleep after the
last time afterº we took the port and
potted meat it had a
fine salty taste yes because I felt
lovely and tired
myself and fell
asleep as sound
as a top the moment I popped straight into bed
till that thunder
woke me upº
God be merciful to
us I thought the heavens were coming down about us to punish
usº
when I blessed myself
and said a Hail Mary like those awful thunderbolts in Gibraltar as if
the world was coming
to an endº and then they
come and tell you
theres no God
what could you do if it was running and rushing about nothing only make an act
of contrition the candle I lit
that evening in
Whitefriars street
chapel for the
month of May see it brought its luck though hed scoff if he heard
because he never
goes to
church
mass or meeting
he says your soul you have no soul
inside only grey
matter because he doesnt know what it is to have one yes when I lit the
lampº because he must have come 3 or 4
times with that
tremendous big
red
brute of a thing he
has I thought
the vein or whatever the dickens
they call it was
going toº
burst though
his nose is
not so big after
I took off all my
things with the
blinds down after
my hours dressing and perfuming and
combing it like
iron or some kind of a thick crowbar standing all the time
he must have eaten
oysters I think a few dozen
he was in great
singing voice no I never in all my life felt anyone had one the size of that
to make you feel full up he
{u21, 827}
must have eaten a whole sheep after whats the idea
making us like that
with a big hole in
the middle of
us
orº like a
Stallion driving
it up into you because thats all they want out of you with that determined
vicious look in
his
eyeº
I had to halfshut my
eyes still he
hasnt such a tremendous amountº
of spunk in him
when I made him pullº out and do it on me
considering how big it is so much the better in case any of it wasnt washed out
properly the last time I let him finish it in me nice invention they made for
women for him to get all the pleasure but if someone gave them a touch of it
themselves theyd know
what I went through
with Milly nobody would believe
cutting her teeth
too and Mina Purefoys
husband give us a swing out of your whiskers filling her up with a child or
twins once a year as
regular as the clock always with
a smell of
children off her the one they called budgers or something like a nigger with
a shock of hair on it Jesusjack the child is a black the last time I was there a
squad of them falling over one another and bawling you couldnt hear your ears
supposed to be
healthy not satisfied till they have us
swollen out like
elephants or I dont know what
supposing I risked
having another not
off him though still if he was married Im sure hed have a fine strong child
but I dont know
Poldy has more
spunk in him yes thatd be awfully jolly I suppose it was meeting Josie Powell
and the funeral and thinking about me and Boylan set him off well
he can think what he
likes now if thatll do him any good I know they were spooning a bit when I
came on the scene he was dancing and sitting out with her the night of Georgina
Simpsons housewarming and then
he wanted to ram it
down my neckº
on account of not
liking to see her a wallflower that was why we had the standup row over
politics he began
it not me when he
said about Our Lord being a carpenter at last
he made me cry of
course a woman is so sensitive about
everythingº I was
fuming with
myself after for giving in only for I knew he was gone on me
and the first
socialist he said He was
he annoyed me so much
I couldnt put him into a temper
still
he knows a lot of
mixedupº
things especially
about the body and
the insideº
I often wanted to
study up that myself what we have inside us in that family physician
I could always hear his voice talking when the room was
{u21, 828}
crowded and
watch him after that
I pretended I had a
coolness onº
with her over him
º because he used to be a bit on the
jealous side whenever he asked who are
youº going to and I said over to Floey
and he made me the present of lord Byrons poems and the three pairs of gloves so
that finished that I
could quite easily get him to make it up any time I know how Id even supposing
he got in with her again
and was going out to
see her somewhere Id know if he refused to eat the onions I know plenty of
ways ask him to tuck down the collar of my blouse or
touch him with my
veil and gloves on going out 1 kiss then would
sendº them all
spinning however
alright well see then let him go to her she of course would only be too
delighted to pretend shes mad in love with him that I wouldnt so much mind Id
just go to her and ask her
do you love him
and look her square in the eyes she couldnt fool me but
he might imagine he
was and make a
declaration to her with his
plabbery kind of a
mannerº like he did to me though
I had the devils own
job to get it out of him though
I liked him for that
it showed he could hold in and wasnt to be got for the asking he was on the
pop of asking me too the night in the kitchen I was rolling the potato cake
theres something I want to say to you only for I put him off letting on I was in
a temper with my hands and arms full of pasty flour in any case I let out too
much the night before talking of dreams so I didnt want to let him know more
than was good for him
she used to be
always embracing me Josie whenever he was there meaning him of course
glauming me over and when I said I washed up and down as far as possible asking
me didº you wash possible
the women are always
egging on to that putting it on thick
when hes there
they know by his sly eye
blinking a bit
putting on the
indifferent when they come out with something the kind he is what
spoils him I
dont wonder in the least because
he was very handsome
at that time
trying to look like
lordº
Byron I said I
liked though he
was too beautiful for a man
and he was a
little before we got engaged afterwards though she didnt like it so much the day
I was in fits of
laughing with
the giggles I couldnt stop about
all my hairpins
falling outº
one after another
with the mass of
hair I had youre
always in great humour she said yes because it
{u21, 829}
grigged her because she knew what it meant
because I used to
tell her a good bit of what went on between us not all but just enough to
make her mouthº water but that wasnt my
fault she didnt darken
the door much after we were married I wonder what shes got like now after
living with that dotty husband of hers she had
her face beginning to
look drawn and
run down the last time I saw her
she must have been
just after a row with him because
I saw on the
moment she was
edging to draw
down a conversation about husbands and talk about him
to run him down
what was it she told
me O yes that sometimes he used to
go to bed with his
muddy boots on
when the maggot takes
him just imagine
having to get into bed with a thing like that that might murder you any
moment what a man
well its not the one
way everyone goes mad
Poldy
anyhowº
whatever he does
always wipes his feet on the mat when he comes in wet or shine and always
blacks his own
boots too and he
always takes off his hat when he comes up in the street like
thenº and now hes going about in his
slippers to look for £10000 for a postcard u
pº up O
Sweetheartº
May wouldnt a
thing like that simply
bore you stiff to
extinction actually too stupid even to take his boots off now
what could you make of
a man like that Id
rather die 20 times over than marry another of their sex of course
hed never find
another woman like me to put up with him the way I do know me come sleep
with me yes and he knows that too
at the bottom of his
heart take that
Mrs Maybrick
that poisoned her husband for what I wonder in love with some other man yes
it was found out
on her wasnt she
the downright
villain to go
and do a thing like
that of course
some men can be dreadfully aggravating
drive you mad
and always the worst
word in the world
what do they ask us to
marry them for if were so bad as all that
comes to yes
because they cant
get on without us white Arsenic she put in his tea
offº flypaper wasnt it I wonder why they
call it that if I asked him hed say its from the Greek leave us as wise as we
were before she must have been madly in love with the other fellow to run the
chance of being hanged O she didnt care if
that was her
nature what could she do besides theyre not brutes enough to go and hang a woman surely are they
{u21, 830}
theyre all so different Boylan talking about the shape of my foot he noticed
at once even before he was introduced when I was in the D B C with
Poldy laughing
and trying to listen I was waggling my foot we both ordered 2 teas and plain
bread and butter I saw him looking with his two old maids of sisters when I
stood up and asked the girl where it was what do I care with it dropping out of
me and that black closed breeches he made me buy takes you half an hour to let
them down wetting
all myself always with
some brandnew fad
every other week
such a long one I did I forgot my suede gloves on the seat behind that I never
got after some robber of a woman and he wanted me to put it in the
Irishº
Timesº
lost in the ladies
lavatory D B C Dame street finder return to Mrs Marion Bloom and
I saw his eyes on my
feet going out through the turning door he was looking when I looked back
and I went there for
tea 2 days after in the hope but he wasnt
now how did that
excite him because I was
crossing them
when we were in the
other room first
he meant the shoes
that are too tight to walk in
my hand is nice like
that if I only had a ring with the stone for my
monthº a nice
aquamarine
Ill stick him for one
and a gold bracelet
I dont like my foot
so much still I
made him spend
once with my foot the night after Goodwins botchup of a concert so cold and
windy it was well we had that rum in the house to mull and the fire wasnt black
out when he asked to
take off my stockings lying on the hearthrug in Lombard street
westº and
another time it was
my muddy boots hed like me to walk in all the horses dung I could find but
of course hes not natural like the rest of the world
that I what did he
say I could give 9 points in 10 to Katty Lanner and beat her what does that
mean I asked him I
forget what he said because the stop
pressº edition just passed and the man
with the curly hair in the
Lucan dairy
thats so polite I
think I saw his face before somewhere I noticed him
when I was tasting the
butter so I took my time
Bartell dArcy too that
he used to make fun of when he
commenced kissing
me on the choir stairs after I sang Gounods Ave Maria what are we waiting
for O my heart kiss me straight on the brow and part which is my brown part he
was pretty hot for all his
tinny voice too
my low notes he was always
{u21, 831}
raving about if you can believe him I liked the way he used his mouth
singing then he said wasnt it terrible to do that there in a place like that
I dont see anything so
terrible about it
Ill tell him about
that some day not now and surprise him ay and Ill take him there and show
him the very place too we did it
so now there you
are like it or lump it he thinks nothing can happen
without him
knowing he hadnt an idea about my mother till we were engaged otherwise hed
never have got me so cheap as he did he was 10 times worse himself anyhow
begging me to give him
a tiny bit cut off my drawers that was the evening coming along
Kenilworth
squareº
he kissed
meº
in the eye of my
glove and I had to take it off asking me questions is it permitted to
inquireº the shape of my bedroom
so I let him keep
it as if I
forgot it to think
of me when I saw
him slip it into his pocket of course
hes mad on the
subject of drawers thats plain to be seen
always skeezing at
those brazenfaced things on the bicycles with their skirts blowing up to
their navels even
when Milly and I were out with him at the open air fete that one in the
cream muslin standing right against the sun so he could see every atom she had
on when he saw me from behind following in the rain
I saw him before he
saw me however standing at the corner of the Harolds cross road with a new
raincoat on him with the muffler in the
Zingari colours to
show off his complexion and the brown hat looking
slyboots as
usual what was he doing there
where hed no
business they
can go and get whatever they like from
anything at all with
a skirt on it and were not to ask any questions but they want to know where
were you where are you going
I could feel him
coming along
skulking after
me his eyes on my
neck he had been
keeping away from the house he felt it was getting too warm for him so I
halfturned and stopped then he pestered me to say yes
till I took off my
glove slowly
watching him he said
my openwork
sleeves were too cold for the rain
anything for an
excuse to put his hand anear me
drawers drawers
the whole blessed time till
I promised to give
him the pair off my doll to carry about in his waistcoat pocket
O Maria
Santisima he did look a big fool
dreeping in the
rain splendid set
of teeth he had made me hungry to look at them and
beseeched of me to lift the orange
{u21, 832}
petticoat I had on with theº
sunray pleats that
there was nobody he said hed kneel down in the wet if I didnt
so persevering
he would too and ruin his new raincoat you never know what freak theyd take
alone with you
theyre so savage for
it if anyone was passing so I
lifted them a bit
and touched his
trousers outside the way I used to Gardner after
with my ring
hand to keep him
from doing worse
where it was too
public I was
dying to find out was he circumcised
he was shaking like a
jelly all over
they want to do
everything too quick take all the pleasure out of it and father waiting all
the time for his dinner
he told me to
say I left my
purse in the butchers and had to go back for it
what a Deceiver
then he wrote me that
letter with all those words in it
how could he have
the face to any woman after his
company manners
making it so awkward after when we met asking me
have I offended
you with my
eyelids down of course he saw I wasnt he had a few brains not like that
other fool Henny Doyle he was always breaking or tearing something in the
charades
I hate an unlucky
man and if I knew what it meant
of course I had to say
no for form sake
dont understand
you I said and wasnt it natural so it is of course it used to be written up
with a picture of a womans on that wall in Gibraltar
with that word I
couldnt find anywhere
only for children
seeing it too young then
writing every
morning a letterº sometimes twice a
day I liked the way he
made love then
he knew the way to
take a woman when he sent me the 8 big poppies because mine was the
8thº
then I wrote the
night he kissed my
heart at
Dolphins barn
I couldnt describe
it simply it makes you
feel like nothing on
earth but he never knew how to embrace well like Gardner I hope hell come on
Monday as he said at the same time four
I hate people who
come at all hours answer the door you think its the vegetables then its
somebody and you all undressed or
the door of the filthy
sloppy kitchen blows open the day old
frostyface Goodwin
called about the concert in Lombard street and
I just after
dinner all flushed and
tossed with
boiling old stew
dont look at me
professor I had to say Im a fright yes but he was a real old gent in his way
it was impossible to
be more respectful nobody
to say youre out
you have to peep out through the blind like the messengerboy today I thought it
{u21, 833}
was a putoff first him sending the port and the peaches first and
I was just beginning
to yawn with nerves thinking he was
trying to make a
fool of me when I knew
his tattarrattat
at the door he must have been a bit late because it was
¼ after 3
when I saw the 2 Dedalus girls coming from school
I never know the
time even that watch he gave me never seems to go properly Id want to get it
looked after when I
threw the penny to that lame sailor for
England home and
beauty when I
was whistling there is a charming girl I love and I hadnt even put on my
clean shift or
powdered myself
or a thing then this day week were to go to Belfast just as well he has to go to
Ennis his fathers anniversary the 27th it wouldnt be pleasant if he did suppose
our rooms at the hotel were beside each other and any fooling went on
in the new bed I
couldnt tell him to stop and not bother me with him in the next room or perhaps
some protestant clergyman with a cough
knocking on the
wall then he wouldntº believe
theº next day we didnt do something its
all very well a husband but
you cant fool a
lover after me telling him we never did anything
of course he didnt
believe me no its better hes going where he is besides something always
happens with him the time going to the Mallow
Concertº at Maryborough ordering
boiling soup for
the two of us then the bell rang out he walks down the platform with the soup
splashing about taking spoonfuls of it hadnt he the nerve and the waiter after
him making a holy show of us screeching and confusion for the engine to start
but he wouldnt pay
till he finished it the two gentlemen in the
3rd class
carriage said he was
quite right so he was too hes so pigheaded sometimes when he gets a thing
into his head a good
job he was able to open the carriage door with his knife or theyd have taken
us on to Cork I suppose that was done out of revenge on him O
I love jaunting in a
train or a car with lovely soft
cushions I
wonder will he take a
1st class for me he might want to do it in the train by tipping the guard
well O I suppose therellº be the usual
idiots of men gaping at us
with their eyes as
stupid as ever they can possibly be
that was an
exceptional man that common workman that left us alone in the carriage that day
going to Howth
Id like to find
out something about him
1 or 2 tunnels
perhaps then you have to look out
{u21, 834}
of the window
all the nicer then
coming back suppose I
never came back
what would they say
eloped with him
that gets you on on the stage the last concert I sang at where its over a year
ago when was it St Teresas hall Clarendon St
little chits of
missies they have now singing Kathleen
Kearney and her
like on account of father being in the army and
my singing the
absentminded beggar and wearing a brooch for
lordº Roberts
when I had the map
of it all and
Poldy not Irish
enough was it him managed it this time
I wouldnt put it past
him like he got
me on to sing in the Stabat Materº
by going around
saying he was putting Lead Kindly Light to music I put him up to that till
the jesuits found out he was a freemason thumping the piano lead Thou me on
copied from some old opera yes and he was going about with some of them
Sinnerº Fein lately or whatever they call
themselves talking his usual
trash and
nonsense he says that little man he showed me without the neck is very
intelligent the coming man Griffithº
is he well he doesnt
look it thats all I can say still it must have been him he knew there was a
boycott I hate the
mention of theirº
politics after the
war that Pretoria and Ladysmith and Bloemfontein where Gardner
Lieutº Stanley G 8th Bn 2nd East Lancs
Rgt of enteric fever he was a
lovely fellow in
khaki and
just the right
height over me Im sure he was brave too he said
I was lovely the
evening we kissed goodbye at the canal lock my Irish beauty
he was pale with
excitement about going away or wed be seen from the road he couldnt stand
properly and I so
hot as I never felt they could have
made their peace
in the beginning or old oom Paul and the rest of
theº
old Krugers go and
fight it out between them instead of dragging on for years killing any
finelooking men there were
with their fever if
he was even decently shot it wouldnt have been so bad
I love to see a
regiment pass in review
the first time I saw
the Spanish cavalry
at La Roque it
was lovely after looking across the bay from
Algeciras all the
lights of the rock like fireflies or
those sham battles
on the 15 acres the
Black Watch with their kilts in time at
the march past the
10th hussars the prince of Wales own or the lancers O the lancers theyre grand
or the Dublins that
won Tugela his father made his money over selling the horses for the cavalry
well he
{u21, 835}
could buy me a nice present up in Belfast after what I gave him
theyve lovely linen
up there or one of those nice
kimono things I
must buy a mothball
like I had before to keep in the drawer with them
it would be exciting
going roundº
with him shopping
buying those things in a new city better leave this ring behind
want to keep turning
and turning to get it over the knuckle there or
they might bell it
round the town in their papers or tell the police on me but theyd think were
married O let them all go and smother themselves for the fat lot I care he has
plenty of money and
hes not a marrying
man so somebody better get it out of him if I could find out whether he
likes me I looked a bit washy of course
when I looked close
in the handglass powdering
a mirror never gives
you the expression besides
scrooching down
on me like that all the time with his big hipbones
hes heavy too
with his hairy
chest for this heat always having to lie down for them
better for him put
it into me from behind the way Mrs
Mastiansky
told me her husband
made her like the dogs do it and stick out her tongue as far as ever she
could and he so quiet and mild
with his tingating
cither can you ever be up to men
the way it takes
them lovely
stuff in that blue suit he had on and
stylish tie and
socks with the skyblue
silk things on them hes certainly welloff I know by
the cut his clothes
have and his
heavy watch but he was
like a perfect
devil for a few
minutes after he
came back with the stop press tearing up the tickets and
swearing blazes
because he lost 20 quid he said he lost over that outsider that won and half he
put on for me on account of Lenehans tip cursing him to the lowest pits that
sponger he was
making free with
me after the Glencree
dinner coming back that long joult over the featherbed mountain after the
lord Mayor looking at me with his dirty eyes Val Dillon that big heathen I first
noticed him at dessert when I was cracking the nuts with my teeth
I
wishedº
I could have
picked every morsel of
that chicken out of my
fingers itº
was so tasty and
browned and as
tender as anything only for
I didnt want to eat
everything on my plate
those forks and
fishslicers were hallmarked silver too I wish I had some I could easily have
slipped a couple into my muff
when I was playing
with them thenº always hanging out of them for money in
{u21, 836}
a restaurant for the bit you put down your throat we have to be thankful
for our mangy cup of tea itselfº as
a great compliment to
be noticed the way the world is divided in any case if its going to go on I
want at least two other good
chemises for one
thing and but I dont know what kind of drawers he likes none at all I think
didnt he say yes and halfº the girls in
Gibraltar never wore them either naked as God made them that Andalusian singing
her Manola she didnt make much secret of what she hadnt yes and the second pair
of silkette
stockings is
laddered after one days wear
I could have brought
them back to Lewers
this morning and
kick up a row and
made that one
change them only
not to upset myself and run the risk of walking into him and
ruining the whole
thing and one of
those kidfitting corsets Id want
advertised cheap
in the Gentlewoman with
elastic gores on the
hips he saved
the one I have but thats no good what did they say
they give a delightful
figure line 11/6 obviating that unsightly broad appearance across the lower
back to reduce
flesh my
belly is a bit too big Ill have to
knock off the
stout at dinner or
am I getting too fond
of it the last they sent from
ORourkesº was
as flat as a
pancake he makes his money easy Larry they call him the old mangy parcel he
sent at Xmas a cottage cake and a bottle of hogwash he tried to palm off as
claret that he couldnt get anyone to drink
God spare his spit for
fear hed die of the drouth or I must do a few
breathing
exercises I wonder is that antifat any good might overdo
itº
thin ones are not so
much the fashion now garters that much I have the violet pair I wore today
thats all he bought me out of the cheque he got on the first O no there was the
face lotion I finished the last of yesterday that made my skin like new I told
him over and over again
get that made up in
the same place and dont forget it God
only knows
whether he did after all I said to him
Ill know by the bottle
anyway if not I suppose
Ill only have to
wash in my piss
like beeftea or
chickensoup with some of that opoponax and violet I thought it was
beginning to look
coarse or old a bit
the skin underneath
is much finer where it peeled off there on my finger after the burn its a
pity it isnt all like that and the four paltry
handkerchiefsº about 6/- in all sure you
cant get on in this world without style all going in food and rent when
{u21, 837}
I get it Ill
lash it around I tell you in fine style I always want to throw a handful of
tea into the pot measuring and mincing if I buy a pair of old brogues itself
do you like those
new shoes yes how much were they
Ive no clothes at
all the brown costume and the skirt and jacket and
the one at the
cleaners 3 whats that for any woman
cutting up this old
hat and patching up the other the men wont look at you and women try to walk
on you because they know youve no man then with all the things getting dearer
every day for the 4
years more I have of life
up to 35
no Im what am I at all
Ill be 33 in September will I what O well look at that Mrs Galbraith shes
much older than me I saw her when I was out last week
her beautys on the
wane she was a lovely woman
magnificent head
of hair on her down
to her waist
tossing it back like
that like Kitty
OShea in Grantham street
1stº
thing I did every
morning to look across
see her combing it
as if she loved it and was full of it
pity I only got to
know her the day before we left and that
Mrs Langtry the
Jersey Lilyº
the prince of
Wales was in love with I suppose hes
like the first man
going the roads only for the name of a king
theyre all made the
one way only a black mans Id like to try a beauty up to what was she 45
there was some funny
story about the jealous old husband what was it at all and an oyster knife
he went no he made her wear a kind of a tin thing
roundº her and the prince of Wales yes he
had the oyster knife cant be true a thing like that like some of those books he
brings me the works of
Master
Francoisº
somebodyº
supposed to be a priest about a child born out of her ear because her bumgut
fell out a nice word for any priest to write
and her a—e as
if any fool wouldnt know what that meant
I hate that
pretending of all things with thatº
old blackguards face on him anybody can see its not true and that Ruby and Fair
Tyrants he brought me
that twice I remember
when I came to page
50 the part about where she hangs him up out of a hook with a cord
flagellate sure
theres nothing for a woman in that
all invention
made up about he
drinking the
champagne out of her slipper after the ball was over like the infant Jesus
in the crib at
Inchicore in the Blessed Virgins arms sure no woman could have a child that
big taken out of her
and I thought first
it came out of her side because how could she
{u21, 838}
go to the chamber when she wanted to and she
a rich lady of
course she felt honoured
H.R.H. he was in
Gibraltar the year I was born I bet he found lilies there too
where he planted the
tree he planted more than that in his time he might have planted me too if
hed come a bit sooner then I wouldnt be here as I am he ought to chuck that
Freeman with the paltry few shillings he knocks out of it and go into an office
or something where hed
get regular pay
or a bank where they
could put him up on a throne to count the money all the day of course he
prefers plottering
about the house so you cant stir with him any side
whats your
programme today
I wish hed even
smoke a pipe like father to get the smell of a man or pretending to be
mooching about for
advertisements when he could have been in Mr Cuffes still only for what he
did then sending
me to try and patch it up
I could have got him
promoted there to be the manager he gave me a great mirada once or twice
first he was as stiff as the mischief
really and truly Mrs
Bloom only I felt rotten simply with the old rubbishy dress that I lost
the leads out of the
tails with no cut in it but
theyre coming into
fashion again I
bought it simply to please him
I knew it was no
good by the finish pity
I changed my
mind of going to
Todd and Burns as I said and not Lees
it was just like the
shop itself
rummage sale a
lot of trash I hate those rich shops
get on your nerves
nothingº
kills me altogether
only he thinks he
knows a great lot about a womans dress and
cooking mathering
everything he can scour off the shelves into it if I went by his advices
every blessed hat I
put on does that suit me yes take that thats alright
the one like a
weddingcakeº
standing up miles
off my head he said
suited me or the
dishcover one coming
down on my backside on pins and needles about the
shopgirlº in that place in Grafton street
I had the misfortune to bring him into
and she as insolent as
ever she could be with her smirk saying Im afraid were giving you too much
trouble what shesº there for but I stared
it out of her yes he was awfully stiff and no wonder but
he changed the second
time he looked
Poldy pigheaded
as usual like the soup but I could see him looking very hard at my chest when he
stood up to open the door for me
it was nice of
him to show me out in any case Im extremely sorry Mrs Bloom believe
{u21, 839}
me without making it too marked the first time after him being insulted and
me being supposed to be his wife
I just half smiled
I know my chest was out that way at the door when he said Im extremely sorry and Im sure you were
yes I think he made
them a bit
firmer sucking them like that so long he made me thirsty titties he calls
them I had to
laugh yes this one anyhow stiff the nipple gets for the least thing Ill get him
to keep that up and Ill take those eggs beaten up with marsala
fatten them out for
him what are all those veins and things curious the way its made
2 the same in case of
twins theyre supposed to represent beauty placed up there like those statues
in the museum one of them pretending to hide it with her hand are they so
beautiful of course compared with what a man looks like with his
two bags full
and his other thing hanging down out of him or sticking up at you like a hatrack
no wonder they hide it with a
cabbageleafº that
disgusting Cameron
highlander behind the meat market or that other wretch with the red head
behind the tree
where the statue of
the fish used to be when I was passing
pretending he was
pissing standing out for me to see it with his babyclothes up to one side
the Queens own they were a nice lot its well the Surreys relieved them theyre
always trying to show it to you every time nearly
I passed outside the
mens greenhouse near the Harcourt street station just to try some fellow or
other trying to catch my eye asº if it
was 1 of the 7 wonders of the world O and the stink of those rotten places the
night coming home withº
Poldy after the
Comerfords party oranges and lemonade
to make you feel nice
and watery I went
into 1 of them it was so biting cold I couldnt keep it when was that
93 the canal was
frozen yes it was a few months after a pity a couple of the Camerons werent
there to see me squatting in the mens place meadero
I tried to draw a
picture of it before I tore it up like a sausage or something I wonder
theyre not afraid going about of getting a kick or a bang of something there the
woman is beauty of course thats admitted when he said
I could pose for a
picture naked to some rich fellow in Holles street when he lost the job in
Helys and I was selling the clothes and strumming in the coffee palace
would I be like that bath of the nymph
{u21, 840}
with my hair
down yes only shes younger or
Im a little like
that dirty bitch in that Spanish photo he has
nymphs used they
go about like that I asked himº
andº
that word met
something with hoses in it and he came out with some jawbreakers about the
incarnation he never
can explain a thing simply the way
a body can
understand then he goes and burns the bottom out of the pan all for his Kidney
this one not so much theres the mark of his teeth still where he tried to bite
the nipple I had to
scream out arent they fearful trying to hurt you
I had a great breast
of milk with Milly enough for two what was the reason of that he said I
could have got a pound a week as a wet nurse all swelled out the morning that
delicate looking student that
stopped in
noº
28
with the Citrons
Penrose nearly
caught me washing through the window
only for I snapped
up the towel to my
face that was his studenting hurt me they used
toº weaning her till he got doctor Brady
to give me the
Belladonnaº prescription
I had to get him to
suck them they were so hard he said it was sweeter and thicker than cows
then he wanted to milk
me into the tea well hes
beyond
everything I declare somebody
ought to put him in
the budget if I
only could remember the one halfº
of the things and
write a book out of it the works of Master
Poldy yes and
its so much smoother the skin much an hour he was at them Im sure by the clock
like some kind of a big infant I had at me they want everything in their mouth
all the pleasure those men get out of a woman I can feel his mouth O Lord
I must stretch
myself I wished he was here or somebody
to let myself go
with and come
again like that
I feel all fire
inside me or if I
could dream it when he made me spend
the
2ndº
time tickling me
behind with his finger I was coming for about 5 minutes
with my legs round
him I had to hug
him after O Lord
I wanted to shout
out all sorts of things fuck or shit or anything at all
only not to look
ugly or those
lines fromº
the strain who
knows the way hed take
it you want to feel your way with a man
theyre not all like
him thank God some of them want you to be so nice about it
I noticed the
contrast he does it and doesnt talk I gave my eyes that look with my hair a
bit loose from the tumbling and my tongue between my lips up to him the savage brute Thursday Friday one Saturday two
{u21, 841}
Sunday three O Lord I cant wait till Monday
frseeeeeeeefronnnng
train somewhere
whistling the
strength those engines have in them like big giants
and the water
rolling all over and out of them all sides like the end of
Loves old
sweeeetsonnnngº the poor men that
have to be out all the night from their wives and families in those roasting
engines stifling it was today Im glad I burned the half of those old Freemans
and Photo bitsº
leaving things like
that lying aboutº hes getting very
careless and threw
the rest of them up in the W C
Ill get him to cut
them tomorrow for me instead of having them there for the next year to get a
few pence for them
have him asking wheres
last Januarys paper and
all those old
overcoats I bundled out of the hall making the place hotter than it is
thatº rain was
lovelyº just after my
beauty sleep I
thought it was going to get like Gibraltar my goodness the heat there
before the levanter
came on black as night and the glare of the rock standing up in it like a
big giant compared with their
3 Rock mountain
they think is so great with the red sentries here and there the poplars and they
all whitehot andº the smell of
the rainwater in those
tanks watching the sun all the time
weltering down on
you faded all
that lovely frock fathers friend
Mrs Stanhope sent
me from the B
Marche parisº
what a shame
my dearest
Doggerina she wrote on itº
she was very
nice whats this
her other name was just a P Cº to
tell you I sent the
little present have just
had a jolly warm
bath and feel a
veryº
clean dog now
enjoyed it wogger
she called him
wogger
wd give anything
to be back in Gib and hear you sing in old Madrid or
Waitingº
Concone is the
name of those exercises he bought me one of those new some word I couldnt make
out shawls amusing
things but tear for the least thing
still
theyreº
lovely I think dont
you will always think of the lovely teas we had together scrumptious
currant scones and
raspberry wafers I
adore well now
dearest Doggerina
be sure and write soon kind she left out regards to your father also
Captainº Grove with love
yrsº
affly
Hesterº x x x x x she didnt look a bit
married just like a
girl he was years older than her
wogger he was
awfully fond of me when
he held down the wire
with his foot for me to step over at the bullfight at La Linea when
that matador Gomez was given the
{u21, 842}
bulls ear theseº
clothes we have to
wear whoever invented them expecting you to walk up Killiney hill then for
example at that picnic all
staysed up
you cant do a
blessed thing in them in a crowd
run or jump out of the
way thats why I was afraid when that other ferocious old Bull began to
charge the banderilleros
with the sashes and
the 2 things in their hats and the brutes of men shouting bravo toro sure
the women were as bad in their nice white mantillas ripping all the whole
insides out of those poor horses I never heard of such a thing in all my life
yes he used to break his heart at
me taking off the
dog barking in bell lane
poor brute and it
sick what became of them ever
I suppose theyre dead
long ago the 2 of them
its like all through a
mist makes you feel so old I made the scones of course
I had everything all
to myself then a girl Hester
we used to compare our
hair mine was thicker than hers she showed me
how to settle it at
the back when I put it up and whats this else
how to make a knot on
a thread with the one hand
we were like
cousins what age was I then the night of the storm
I slept in her bed she
had her arms round me then we were
fighting in the
morning with theº
pillow
what fun he was
watching me whenever he got an opportunity at
the band on the
Alameda esplanade when I was with father and
Captainº Grove I looked up at the church
first and then at the windows then down and our eyes met I felt something go
through me like all needles my eyes were dancing I remember after when
I looked at myself
in the glass
hardly
recognisedº
myself the
changeº
I had a splendid
skin from the sun and the excitement like a rose
I didnt get a wink
of sleep it wouldnt have been nice on account of her but I could have
stopped it in
time she gave me
the Moonstone to read that was the first I read of Wilkie Collins East Lynne I
read and the shadow of Ashlydyat Mrs Henry Wood Henry Dunbar by that other
woman I lent him
afterwards with Mulveys photo in it so as he see I wasnt without and Lord
Lytton Eugene Aram Molly bawn
she gave me by Mrs
Hungerford on account of the name
I dont like books with
a Molly in them like that one he brought me about the one from Flanders a
whore always
shopliftingº
anything she could cloth and stuff and yards of it
Oº this blanket is too heavy on me thats better I havent even one
{u21, 843}
decent nightdress this thing gets all
rolledº under me besides him and his
fooling thats better I used to be weltering then in the heat
my shift drenched
with the sweat
stuck in the
cheeks of my bottom on
the chair when I
stood up they were so fattish and firm when I got up on the
sofa cushions
to see with my
clothes up and the bugs tons of them at night and the
mosquito nets I
couldnt read a line Lord
how long ago it
seems centuries of course
they never
cameº
back and
she didnt put her
address right on it either she may have noticed her
wogger people were
always going away and we never I remember that day with
the waves and the
boats with their high heads
rocking and
the
smellº
ofº
ship
those Officers
uniforms on shore
leave made me
seasick he didnt say anything he was very serious
I had the high
buttoned boots on and my skirt was blowing
she kissed me six or
seven times didnt I cry yes I believe I did or near it
my lips were
taittering when I said goodbye
she had a
Gorgeous
wrap of some
special kind of blue colour on her for the voyage made
very peculiarly
to one side like and it was
extremely pretty
it got as dull as the devil after they went I was almost planning
to run away mad
out of it somewhere
were never easy
where we are father or aunt or marriage waiting always waiting to guiiiide
him toooo me waiting nor speeeed his flying feet
their damn guns
bursting and
booming
all over the
shop especially
the Queens birthday and
throwing everything
down in all directions ifº
you didnt open the
windows when
general Ulysses
Grant whoever he was or did supposed to be some great fellow landed off the
ship and old Sprague
the consulº
that was there from
before the flood dressed up poor man and he in mourning for the son then the
same oldº
reveille
in the morning and
drums rolling and the unfortunate poor devils of
soldiers walking
about with
messtins
smelling the
place more than the old
longbearded jews
in their
jellibees and
levites
assembly and sound
clear and
gunfire for the men
to cross the lines and the warden marching with his keys to lock the gates
and the bagpipes and only Captainº Groves
and father talking
about Rorkes
drift and
Plevna and
sir Garnet
Wolseley and
Gordon at Khartoum
lighting their pipes for them everytime they went out drunken old devil with his
grog on the windowsill catch him
{u21, 844}
leaving any of it
picking his nose
trying to think of some other dirty story to tell up in a corner but he never
forgot himself when I was there
sending me out of
the room on some blind excuse
paying his
compliments the
Bushmills whisky talking of course
but hed do the same
to the next woman that came along I
supposeº he died of
galloping drink
ages ago the days like
years not a letter from a living soul
except the odd few I
posted to myself with bits of paper in them so bored sometimes
I could fight with my
nails listening to that old Arab with the one eye and his heass of an
instrument singing his heah heahº aheah
all my compriments on your hotchapotch of your heass as bad as now with
the hands hanging
off me looking
out of the window if there was a nice fellow even in the opposite house
that medical in
Holles street the nurse was after
when I put on my
gloves and hat at the window to show I was going out not a notion what I meant
arent they thick never understand what you say even youd want to print it up
on a big poster for them not even if you shake hands twice
with the left
he didnt recognise
me either when I
half frowned at him outside Westland row chapel where does their great
intelligence come in Id like to know grey matter they have it all in their tail
if you ask me those
country gougers up in the City Arms intelligence they had a damn sight less than
the bulls and cows they were selling the meat and the
coalmans bell
that noisy
bugger trying to
swindle me with the
wrong bill he took out of his hat what a pair of paws and
pots and pans and
kettles to mend any broken bottles for a poor man today and no visitors or
post ever except his cheques or some advertisement like that wonderworker they
sent him addressed
dear Madam only
his letter and the card from Milly this morning see she wrote a letter to him
who did I get the last letter from O Mrs Dwenn now
whatº possessed her to
writeº after so many years to know the
recipe I had for pisto madrileno Floey Dillon
since she wrote to
say she was married to a very rich architect
if Im to believe
all I hear with a villa and eight rooms her father was an awfully nice man he
was near seventy always goodhumouredº
well now Miss Tweedy or Miss Gillespie theres the
pyannyerº that was a solid silver coffee
service he had too on the mahogany sideboard then dying so far away
{u21, 845}
I hate people
that have always their poor story to tell
everybody has
their own troubles that poor Nancy Blake died a month ago of acute
neumoniaº well I didnt know her so well
as all that she was Floeys friend more than
mineº its a bother having to answer he
always tells me the wrong things and no stops to say like making a speech your
sad bereavement
symphathyº
I always make that
mistake and
newphewº
with 2 double yous in I hope hell write me a longer letter the next time
if its a thing
he really likes me O
thanks be to the great God I got somebody to give me what I badly wanted to
put some heart up into me
youve no chances at
all in this place like you used long ago
I wish somebody would
write me a loveletter his wasnt much and I told him he could write what he
liked yours ever
Hugh Boylan in
Oldº
Madridº
silly women believe
love is sighing I am dying still if he wrote it I suppose thered be some
truth in it true or
no it fills up
your whole day and life
always something to
think about every moment and
see it all
roundº
you like a new
world I could
write the answer in bed to let him imagine me short just a few words not
those long crossed
letters Atty Dillon used to write to the fellow that was something in the
four courts that jilted her after out of the ladies letterwriter when I told her
to say a few simple words he could twist how he liked not acting with precipit
precipitancyº with equal candour the
greatest earthly happiness answer to a gentlemans proposal affirmatively my
goodness theres nothing else
its all very fine
for them but as for being a woman
as soon as youre old
they might as well throw you out in the bottom of the ashpit.
Mulveys was the first when I was in bed that morning and Mrs Rubio brought
it in with the
coffee she stood there standing when I asked her to hand me and I pointing
at them I couldnt think of the word
a hairpin to open it
with ah horquilla
disobliging old
thing and it staring her in the face
with her switch of
false hair on her and
vain about her
appearance ugly as she was near 80 or a 100 her face a mass of wrinkles with
all her religion
domineering
because she never could get over the Atlantic fleet coming in half the ships of
the world and the
Union Jack flying with all her
carabineros
because 4 drunken
English sailors took all the rock from them and because
I didnt run
{u21, 846}
into mass often enough in Santa Maria to please her
with her shawl up on
her except when there was a marriage on with all her miracles of the saints
and her black
blessed virgin with the silver dress
and the sun dancing
3 times on Easter Sunday morning and when the priest was going by with
the bell
bringing the vatican to the dying blessing herself for
his Majestad an
admirer he signed it I near jumped out of my skin I wanted
to pick him up
when I saw him
following me along the Calle Real in the shop window
then he tipped me just
in passing butº I never thought hed
write making an appointment
I had it inside my
petticoat bodice all day reading it up in every
hole and corner
while father was up at the drill instructing
to find out by the
handwriting or
the language of
stamps singing I
remember shall I wear a white rose and
I wanted to put on
the old stupid clock to near the time he was the first man kissed me under
the Moorish wall my
sweetheart when a boy it
never entered my
head what kissing
meant till he put his tongue
in my mouth his
mouth was sweetlike young
I put
my knee up
to him a few
times to learn
the way what did I tell him I was engaged for
forº
fun to the son of
a Spanish nobleman named Don Miguel de la Flora and he believed
meº that I was to be married to him in 3
years time theres many a true word spoken in jest
there is a flower
that bloometh a
few things I told him true about myself just for him to be imagining
the Spanish girls he
didnt like I
suppose one of them wouldnt have him I got him excited he crushed all
the flowers on my
bosom he brought me
he couldnt count the
pesetas and the
perragordas till I
taught him Cappoquin he came from he said on the
Blackwaterº but it was too short then the
day before he left Mayº yes
it was May when
the infant
king of Spain was
born Im always
like that in the spring
Id like a new fellow
every year up on the tiptop
under the
rockgun near OHaras tower
I told him
it was struck by
lightning and all about theº old
Barbary apes they
sent to Clapham
without a tail
careering all over the show on each others back Mrs Rubio said she was a
regular old rock
scorpion robbing
the chickens out of Inces farm and
throw stones at
you if you went anear he was looking at me I had that white blouse on open
inº the front to encourage him
as much as I could without too openly they
{u21, 847}
were just beginning to be plump I said I was tired we lay over the firtree
cove a wild place I suppose it must be
the highest rock in
existence the
galleries and
casemates and those
frightful rocks
and Saint Michaels
cave with the icicles or whatever they call them hanging down and ladders all
the mud plotching my boots
Im sure thats the way
down the monkeys go under the sea to Africa when they die
the ships out far like
chips that was
the Malta boat
passing yes the sea and the sky
you could do what
you liked lie there for ever he caressed them outside they love doing that
its the roundness there
I was leaning over
him with my white ricestraw hat to
take the newness out
of it the left
side of my face the best my blouse open for his last day
transparent kind of
shirt he had I could see his chest pink he wanted to touch mine with his for
a moment but I
wouldnt let him he was
awfully put out
first for fear
youº
never know
consumption or
leave me with a
child embarazada
that old servant Ines told me that one drop even if it got into you at all after
I tried with the
Banana but I was afraid it might break and get lost up in me
somewhereº
because they once took
something down out of a woman that was up there for years covered with
limesalts theyre
all mad to get in there where they come out of youd think they could never
goº far enough up
and then theyre done
with you in a way till the next time yes because theres a wonderful feeling
there so
tenderº
all the
timeº
how did we finish it
off yes O yes I pulled him off into my handkerchief pretending not to be
excited but I opened my legs I wouldnt let him touch me inside my petticoat
becauseº I had a
skirt opening up the
side I
tormentedº
the life out of him
first tickling
him I loved
rousing that dog in the hotel
rrrssssttº awokwokawok his eyes shut
and a bird flying below us he was shy all the same I liked him like that
moaningº
I made him blush
a little when I got
over him that way
when I unbuttoned
him and took his out and drew back the skin it had a kind of eye in it
theyre all Buttons
men down the middle
on the wrong side of
them Molly darling he called me what was his name Jack Joe Harry Mulvey was
it yes I think a lieutenant he was rather fair he had a laughing kind of a voice
so I went roundº to the whatyoucallit everything was whatyoucallit
{u21, 848}
moustache had
he he said hed come back Lord its just like yesterday to me
and if I was married
hed do it to me and I promised him yes
faithfully Id
let him block me now flying perhaps hes dead or killed or a
Captainº or admiral its nearly 20 years
if I said firtree cove he would if he came up behind me and
put his hands over
my eyes to guess who
I might
recogniseº
him
hes young still
about 40 perhaps hes married some girl on the black water and is quite changed
they all do they havent half the character a woman has she little knows what I
did with her beloved husband before he ever dreamt of her in broad daylight too
in the sight of the whole world you might say they could have put an article
about it in the
Chronicle I was a bit wild after
when I blew out the
old bag the biscuits were in fromº
Benady Bros and
exploded it Lord
what a bang all
the woodcocks and pigeons screaming
coming back the same
way that we went
over middle hill
round by the old
guardhouse and
the jews burialplace
pretending to read out the Hebrew on them
I wanted to fire his
pistol he said he hadnt one
he didnt know what
to make of me with his
peakº
cap on
that he always wore
crooked as often
as I settled it straight
H M S Calypso
swinging my hat that
old Bishop that spoke off the altar his long preach about womans higher
functions about girls now riding the bicycle and wearing
peak caps and
the new woman
bloomers God send
him sense and me more money I suppose theyre called after him
I never
thoughtº
that would be my
name Bloom when
I used to write it in print to see how it looked on a
visiting card or
practising for the butcher
and oblige M
Bloom youre looking blooming Josie used to say after I married him well its
better than Breen or
Briggs does brig
or those awful names with bottom in them Mrs Ramsbottom or some other kind of a
bottom Mulvey I wouldnt go mad about either or suppose I divorced him Mrs Boylan
my mother whoeverº she was might have
given me a nicer name the Lord knows after the lovely one she had Lunita Laredo
the fun we had running along
Willissº
road to
Europaº
point
twisting in and
out all round the
other side of Jersey
they were shaking
and dancing about in my blouse like Millys little ones now when she runs up
the stairs I loved
looking down at them I was
jumping up at
the pepper trees and
{u21, 849}
the white
poplars pulling
the leaves off and throwing them at him he went to India he was to write the
voyages those men have to make to the ends of the world and back its the least
they might get a squeeze or two at a woman while they can going out to be
drowned or blown up somewhere I went up
windmillº hill to the flats that Sunday
morning with Captainº Rubios that was
dead spyglass like
the sentry had he said hed have one
orº two from on board I wore that frock
from the B Marche
parisº and the coral necklace
the straits
shining I could
see over to Morocco almost
the bay of Tangier
white and the
Atlas mountain with snow on it and
the straits like a
river so clear Harry Molly Darlingº
I was thinking of
him on the sea all the time after at mass when
my petticoat began
to slip down at
the elevation weeks and weeks I kept the
handkerchiefº under my pillow for the
smell of him there was no decent perfume to be got in that Gibraltar only
thatº
cheap peau
dEspagneº
that faded and left
a stink on you more than anything else
I wanted to give him
a memento he
gave me that clumsy Claddagh ring for luck that I gave Gardner
going to
southº
Africa
where those Boers
killed him with
their war and fever but they were well beaten all the same
as if it brought its
bad luck with it
like an opal or
pearl itº must have been pure
18º
carrotº
gold because it was
very heavyº
I can see his face
cleanshavenº
Frseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeefrong thatº train
again weepingº tone
onceº in the dear deaead days beyondre
call closeº my eyes breath my lips
forward kiss sad look eyes open piano ere oer the world the mists began I hate
that istsbegº
comesº loves sweet
sooooooooooongº Ill let that out full
when I get in front of the
footlights again
Kathleen Kearney
and her lot of squealers
Miss This Miss That
Miss Theother lot of sparrowfarts skitting around talking about politics
they know as much about as my backside anything in the world to make themselves
someway interesting Irish homemadeº
beauties soldiers daughter am I ay and whose are you bootmakers and
publicansº I beg your pardon coach I
thought you were a wheelbarrow theyd die down dead off their feet if ever they
got a chance of walking down
the Alameda
on an officers arm
like me on the
bandnight my eyes flash my bust that they havent passion God help their poor head I knew
{u21, 850}
more about men and life when I was 15 than theyll all know at 50 they dont
know how to sing a song like that Gardner said no man could look at my mouth and
teeth smiling like that and not think of it
I was afraid he
mightnt like my accent first he so English all father left me
in spite of his
stamps Ive my
mothers eyes and figure anyhow he always said theyre so snotty about themselves
some of those cads he wasnt a bit like that he was dead gone on my lips let them
get a husband first thats fit to be looked at and a daughter like mine or see if
they can excite a swell with money that can
pick and choose
whoever he wants like Boylan to do it 4 or 5 times locked in each others arms or
the voice either I could have been a prima donna only I married him comes
looooves old deep down chin back not too much make it double
My Ladys Bower
is too long for an encore about
the moated grange at
twilight and vaunted rooms yes Ill sing Winds that blow from the south that
he gave after the choirstairs performance
Ill change that lace
on my black dress to show off my
bubs and Ill yes
by God Ill get that
big fan mended make them
burst with envy
my hole is itching
me always when I
think of him I feel I want to
I feel some wind in
me better go easy not wake him have him at it again slobbering
after washing every
bit of myself back belly and sides if we had even a
bath itself or
my own room
anyway I wish
hed sleep in some
bed by himself with
his cold feet on
me give us room even to let a fart God
or do the least
thing better yes hold them like that a bit on my side
pianoº quietly sweeeee theres that train
far away pianissimo eeeeeeeeº one more
tsongº
that was a relief wherever you be let your wind go free
who knows if that
pork chop I took with my cup of tea after was quite good with the heat I
couldnt smell anything off it Im sure that queerlooking man in the porkbutchers
is a great rogue I
hope that lamp is not smoking fill my nose up with smuts better than
having him leaving the
gas on all night I couldnt rest easy in my bed in Gibraltar even getting up
to see why am I so damned nervous about that though I like it in the winter its
more company O Lord it was rotten cold too that winter when I was only about ten
was I yes I had the
big doll with all the funny clothes dressing her up and undressing that icy wind skeeting
{u21, 851}
across from those mountains
the something Nevada
sierra nevada
standing at the fire
with the little bit of a
short
shift I had up
to heat myself I
loved dancing about in it then make a race back into bed
Im sure that fellow
opposite used to be
there the whole
time watching
with the lights out in the summer and I in my skin hopping around I used to
love myself then stripped at the washstand dabbing and creaming only when it
came to the chamber performance I put out the light too so then there were 2 of
us
goodbyeº
to my sleep for this
night anyhow I hope hes not going to get in with those medicals
leading him
astray to imagine hes young again coming in at 4 in the morning it must be
if not more still he
had the manners not to wake me what do they find to gabber about all night
squandering money and getting drunker and drunker
couldnt they drink
water then he
starts giving us his orders for eggs and tea
andº
Findon haddy and
hot buttered toast I suppose well have him sitting up like the king of the
country pumping the
wrong end of the spoon up and down in his egg
wherever he learned
that from and I love to hear him falling up the stairs of a morning with
the cups rattling on
the tray and
then play with the cat she rubs up against you for her own sake I wonder has
she fleas shes as bad as a woman always licking and lecking but I hate their
claws I wonder do
they see anything that we cant
staring like
that when she sits at the top of the stairs so long and listening as I wait
always what a robber too that lovely fresh
plaiceº I bought I think Ill get a bit of
fish tomorrow or today is it Friday yes I will with some
blancmange with
black currant jam
like long ago not those 2 lb pots of mixed plum and apple from the London and
Newcastle Williams and Woods
goes twice as far
only for the bones I
hate those eels cod yes Ill get a nice piece of cod Im always getting enough
for 3 forgetting anyway Im sick of that everlasting butchers meat from Buckleys
loin chops and leg
beef and rib steak and scrag of mutton and
calfs pluck the
very name is enough
or a picnic
suppose we all gave
5/-º
each and or let him
pay itº
and invite some
other woman for him
who Mrs Fleming and driveº out to the
furry glen or the
strawberry beds
wed have him
examining all the
horses toenails first
like he does with the letters no
{u21, 852}
not with Boylan there yes with some cold veal and ham mixed sandwiches
there are little
houses down at the bottom of the banks there on purpose but its as hot as
blazes he says not a bank holiday anyhow
I hate those
ruck of Mary Ann
coalboxes out for
the day Whit
Monday is a cursed day too no wonder
that bee bit him
better the seaside but Id never again in this life get into a boat with him
after him at Bray telling the boatmanº he
knew how to row if
anyone asked could he ride the steeplechase for the gold cup hed say yes
then it came on to
get rough the
old thing crookeding about and
the weight all down
my side telling meº pull the right
reins now pull the left and the tide all swamping in floods in
throughº the bottom and his oar slipping
out of the stirrup its a mercy we werent all drowned
he can swim of
course me no theres no danger whatsoever keep yourself calm in his flannel
trousers Id like to
have tattered them down off him before all the people and give him what that
one calls flagellate till he was
black and blue
do him all the good
in the world only for that longnosed chap I dont know who he is with that
other beauty Burke out of the City Arms hotel was there spying around as usual
on the slip always
where he wasnt wanted
if there was a row
on youd vomit a better face there was no love lost between us thats 1
consolation I wonder what kind is that book he brought me Sweets of Sin by a
gentleman of fashion some other
Mr de Kock I
suppose the people gave him that nickname going about with
his tube from
one woman to another I couldnt even change my new white shoes all ruined with
the saltwater and the hat I had with that feather all
blowy and
tossed on me
how annoying and
provoking because the smell of the sea excited me of course the sardines and
the bream in Catalan bay round the back of the rock they were fine all silver in
the fishermens baskets old Luigi near a hundred they said came from Genoa and
the tall old chap with the earrings I dont like a man you have to climb up to
to get at I suppose theyre all
dead and rotten long
ago besides I dont like being alone
inº
this big barracks of
a place at night I suppose Ill have to put up with it
I never brought a bit
of salt in even when we moved in the confusion musical academy he was going
to make on the first floor drawingroom with a
{u21, 853}
brassplate or Blooms private hotel he suggested go and ruin himself
altogether the way his father did down in Ennis like all the things he told
father he was going to do and me but
I saw through
him telling me all the lovely places we could go for the honeymoon Venice by
moonlight with the gondolas and the lake of Como he had a picture cut out of
some paper of and mandolines and lanterns
O how nice I
said whatever I liked he was going to do immediately if not sooner
will you be my man
will you carry my can he ought to get
a leather medal with
a putty rim for all the plans he invents then
leaving us here all
day youd never know what old
beggar
at the door for
a crust with his long story
might be a tramp
and put his foot in the way to prevent me shutting it like that picture of that
hardened criminal
he was called in Lloydsº Weekly
newsº 20 years in jail then he comes out
and murders an old woman for her money imagine his poor wife
or mother or
whoever she is such a face
youd run miles away
from I couldnt rest easy till
I bolted all the
doors and windows to
make sure but
its worse again being
locked up like
in a prison or a madhouse they ought to be all shot or the cat of nine tails a
big brute like that that would attack a poor old woman to murder her in her bed
Id cut them off him so
I would not that hed be much use still better than nothing the night I was
sure I heard
burglars in the
kitchen and he went down in his shirt with a candle and a poker as if he was
looking for a mouse as white as a sheet
frightened out of
his wits making as much noise as he possibly could for the burglars benefit
there isnt much to steal indeed the Lord knows
still its the feeling
especially now with
Milly away such an
idea for him to send the girl down there to learn to take photographs on account
of his grandfather instead of sending her to
Skerrysº
academy where shed have to learn not like me
getting all
1sº
at school
only hed do a thing
like that all the same on account of me and Boylan thats why he did it Im
certain the way he plots and plans everything out I couldnt turn round with her
in the place lately unless I
bolted the door
first gave me the
fidgets coming in without knocking first when I put
the chair against
the door just as I was
washing myself
there below
with the glove
get on your nerves
then doing the
loglady all day put
{u21, 854}
her in a glasscase with two at a time to look at her
ifº
he knew she broke
off the hand off that little
gimcrack
statue with her
roughness and carelessness
before she left
that I got that
little Italian boy to mend so that you cant see the join for 2 shillings
wouldnt even teem
the potatoes for you of course
shes right
not to ruin her
hands I noticed
he was always
talking to her lately at the table explaining things in the paper and she
pretending to understand sly of course
that comes from his
side of the houseº
he cant say I
pretend things can he Im too honest as a matter of fact and
helping her into her
coat but if there was anything wrong with her
its me
shedº
tell not
himº
I suppose he thinks
Im finished out and laid
on the shelf
well Im not no
nor anything like it
well see well see
now shes well on for flirting too with Tom Devans two sons
imitating me
whistling with those romps of Murray
girls calling for
her can Milly come out please shes in great demand
to pick what they
can out of her
round in Nelson
street riding Harry Devans bicycle at night its as well he sent her where
she is she was just getting
out of bounds
wanting to go on the
skatingrink and
smoking their cigarettes
through their nose
I smelt it off her dress when I was
biting off the thread
of the button I sewed on to the
bottom of her
jacket she couldnt hide much from me I tell you
only I oughtnt to
have stitched it and it on her it brings
a parting and the last
plumpudding too split in 2 halves see it comes out no matter what they say
her tongue is a bit too long for my taste
your blouse is open
too low she says to me
the pan calling the
kettle blackbottom and I had to tell her
not to cock her legs
up like that on show on the windowsill before all the people passing
they all look at
her like me when
I was her age of course
any old rag looks
well on you then a
great touchmenot too in her own way at the Only Way in the Theatre royal
take your foot away
out of that I
hate people touching me
afraid of her life
Id crush her skirt with the pleats
a lot of that touching
must go onº
in theatres in the
crush in the dark theyre always trying to wiggle up to you that fellow in
the pitº at the Gaiety for Beerbohm Tree
in Trilby the last time Ill ever go there to be squashed like that for any
Trilby or her barebum every two minutes tipping me there and looking away hes a bit daft I think I saw him
{u21, 855}
after trying to get near two
stylishdressedº ladies outside Switzers
window at the same little game
I recognised him on
the moment the
face and everything but he didnt remember me
andº she didnt even want me to kiss her
at the Broadstone going away well I hope shell get someone to dance attendance
on her the way I did
when she was down
with the mumps and
her glands
swollen wheres
this and wheres that of course she cant feel anything deep yet
I never came
properly till I was what 22 or so
it went into the
wrong place always only the usual girls nonsense and giggling that Conny
Connolly writing to
her in white ink on black paper sealed with sealingwax though she clapped
when the curtain came down because he looked so handsome then we had Martin
Harvey for breakfast dinner and supper I thought to myself afterwards
it must be real love
if a man gives up his life for her that way for nothing I suppose there are
aº few men like that left its hard to
believe in it though unless it really happened to me the majority of them
with not a particle
of love in their natures to find
two people like
that nowadays
full up of each
other that would feel the same way as you do theyre usually a bit foolish in
the head his father must have been a bit queer to go and poison himself after
her still poor old man I suppose he felt lost
shesº
always making love
to my things too the few old rags I have wanting to put her hair up at 15
my powder too only
ruin her skin on her shes time enough for that all her life after
of course shes
restless knowing shes pretty with her lips so red a pity they wont stay that
way I was too but theres no use going to the fair with the thing answering me
like a fishwoman
when I asked to go for a half a stone of potatoes the day we met Mrs Joe
Gallaher at the trottingmatches and she pretended not to see us in her trap with
Friery the solicitor we werent grand enough
till I gave her
2 damn fine
cracks
across the ear for
herself take
that now for answering me like that
and that for your
impudence she had me that exasperated of course contradicting
I was badtempered
too because how was it
there was a weed in
the tea or I
didnt sleep the night before cheese I ate was it and
I told her over and
over again not to leave knives crossed like that because she has nobody to
command her as she said herself well if he
{u21, 856}
doesnt correct her faith I will
that was the last
time she turned on
the teartap I was just like that myself they darent order me about the place
its his fault of course having the two of us slaving here instead of getting in
a woman long ago am
I ever going to have a proper servant again of course then shed see him
coming Id have to
let her know or shed revenge it arent they a nuisance that old
Mrs
Flemingº you have to be walking round
after her putting the things into her hands
sneezing and farting
into the pots well of course shes old she cant help it a good job I found
that rotten old
smelly dishcloth
that got lost behind the
dresser
I knew there was
something and opened the windowº
to let out the
smell bringing in his friends to entertain them
like the night he
walked home with a dog
if you please
that might have been mad especially Simon Dedalus son his father such a
criticiser with his glasses up with his tall hat on him at the cricket match and
a great big hole in
his sock one thing laughing at the other and his son that got all those
prizes for whatever he won them in the intermediate imagine climbing over the
railings if anybody saw him that knew us
Iº wonder he didnt tear
a big hole in his
grand funeral trousers as if the one nature gave wasnt enough for anybody
hawking him down into the dirty old kitchen now is he right in his head I ask
pity it wasnt
washing day my
old pair of drawers
might have been
hanging up too on the line on exhibition for all hed ever care
with the ironmould
mark the stupid old bundle burned on them he might think was something else
and she never even
rendered down the
fat I told her and
now shes going such as she was
on account of her
paralysed husband getting worse
theres always
something wrong with them
disease or they
have to go under an
operation or
if its not that
its drink and he
beats her Ill have to hunt around again for someone every day I get up
theres some new thing on
sweet God sweet
God well when Im
stretched out dead in my grave I suppose Ill have some peace
I want to get up a
minute if Im let wait
O Jesus wait yes that
thing has come on me yes
now wouldnt that
afflict youº of course
all the poking and
rooting and ploughing
he had up in me
now what am I to do
Friday Saturday
Sunday wouldnt
that pester the soul out of a body unless he likes it
{u21, 857}
some men do God knows
theres always
something wrong with us
5 days every 3 or 4
weeks usual
monthly auction
isnt it simply
sickening that
night it came on me like that the one and only time
weº
were in a box that
Michael Gunn gave him to see Mrs Kendal and her husband at the Gaiety something
he did about insurance for him inº
Drimmies I was fit
to be tied though I wouldnt give in with that gentleman of fashion staring
down at me with his glasses and him the other side of me talking about Spinoza
and his soul thats dead I suppose millions of years ago
I smiled the
best I could all in a swamp
leaning forward as if
I was interested having to sit it out then to the last tag I wont forget
that wife of Scarli in a hurry supposed to be
a fast play about
adultery that
idiot in the gallery hissing the woman
adulteress he
shouted I suppose he went and had a woman in the next lane
running round all the
back ways after to make up for it I wish he had what I had then hed boo I
bet the cat itself is
better off than us
have we too much
blood up in us or what O patience above its pouring out of me like the sea
anyhow he didnt make
me pregnant as big as he is I dont want to ruin the
clean
sheetsº the
clean linen I wore
brought it on too damn it damn it and they always want to see a stain on the bed
to know youre a
virgin for them all thats troubling them theyre such fools too you could be
a widow or
divorced 40 times over
a daub of red ink
would do or
blackberry juice
no thats too purply O Jamesy let me up out of this pooh sweets of sin
whoever suggested
that business for women
what between clothes
and cooking and children this damned old bed too jingling like the dickens
I suppose they could hear us away over the other side of the park till I
suggested to put the quilt
on the floor
with the pillow under my bottom I wonder is it nicer in the day I think it is
easy I think Ill cut
all this hair off me there scalding me I might look like a young girl
wouldnt he get the great suckin the next time he turned up my clothes on me Id
give anything to see his face wheres the chamber gone easy Ive a
holy horror of
its breaking under me after that old commode I wonder was I too heavy
sitting on his
knee I made him
sit on the easychair purposely
when I took off only
my blouse and skirt first
in the other
room he was so busy where he oughtnt to be he
{u21, 858}
never felt me I hope my breath was sweet after those
kissing comfits
easy God I remember
one time I could
scout
it out straight
whistling like a
man almost easy O Lord how noisy
I hope theyre
bubbles on it for a wad of money from some fellow
Ill have to perfume
it in the morning dont forget I bet he never saw a better pair of thighs
than that look how white they are the smoothest place is right there between
this bit here
how soft like a peach easy God
I wouldnt mind being a
man and get up on a lovely woman O Lord what a row youre making like the
jersey lily easy easy O how the waters come down at Lahore
who knows is there anything the matter with my insides or have I something
growing in me getting that thing like that every week
when was it last I
Whit Monday yes its only about 3 weeks I ought to go to the doctor only it
would be like before I married him when I had that
white thing coming
from me and Floey made me go to that dry old stick
Dr Collins for
womens diseases on Pembroke road your vagina he called it I suppose
thats how he got all
the gilt mirrors and carpets getting round those rich ones off Stephens
green running up to him for every little fiddlefaddle
her vagina and her
cochinchina theyve money of course so theyre all right I wouldnt marry him
not if he was the last man in the world besides theres something queer about
their children always smelling around
those filthy
bitches all sides asking me if
what I did had
an offensive
odour what did he want me to do but the one thing
gold maybe what a
question if I
smathered it all over his wrinkly old face for him with all my
comprimentsº I suppose hed know then and
could you pass it easily pass what I thought he was talking about the rock of
Gibraltar the way he put it thats a very nice invention too
by the way only
I like letting myself down after in the hole as far as I can squeeze and pull
the chain then to
flush it nice cool pins and needles still theres something in it I suppose
I always used to
know by Millys when she was a child whether she
had worms or not
still all the same paying him for that how much is that doctor one guinea
please and asking me had I frequent omissions where do those old fellows get all
the words they have omissions with his shortsighted eyes on me cocked sideways
I wouldnt trust him too far to give me
{u21, 859}
chloroform or God knows what else still
I liked him when he
sat down to write the thing out frowning so severe
his nose
intelligent like that you be damned you lying strap O
anything no matter
who except an idiot he was clever enough to spot that of course that was all
thinking of him and
his mad
crazy
letters
my Precious one
everything connected with your
glorious Body
everything underlined that comes from it is a thing of beauty and of joy for
ever something he got out of some
nonsensical book
that he had me
always at myself 4 andº 5 times a day
sometimes and I said I hadnt are you sure O yes I said I am quite sure in a way
that shut him up I knew what was coming next only natural weakness it was he
excited me I dont know how the first night ever we met when I was living in
Rehoboth terrace we stood staring at one another for about 10 minutes as if we
met somewhere I suppose on account of my being jewess looking after my mother he
used to amuse me the things he said with the half sloothering smile on him and
all the Doyles said he was going to stand for a member of Parliament O wasnt I
the born fool to believe all his blather about home rule and the land league
sending me that long
strool of a song out of the Huguenots to sing in French to be more classy O
beau pays de la Touraine that I never even sang once explaining and rigmaroling
about religion and persecution he wont let you enjoy anything naturally then
might he as a great favour the very 1stº
opportunity he got a chance in Brighton square running into my bedroom
pretending the ink got on his hands to wash it off with the Albion milk and
sulphur soap I used to use
and the gelatine still
round it O I
laughed myself sick at him that day I better not make an all
nightº sitting on this affair they ought
to make chambers a natural size so that a woman could sit on it properly
he kneels down to do
it I suppose there isnt
in all creation
another man with the
habits he has look at the way hes sleeping at the foot of the bed how can he
without a hard
bolster its well
he doesnt kick or he might knock out all my teeth
breathing with his
hand on his nose
like that Indian
god he took me to
show one wet Sunday in the museum in Kildare street
all yellow in a
pinafore lying on his side on his hand with his ten toes sticking out that he said was a bigger religion than
{u21, 860}
the jews and Our Lords both put together all over Asia imitating him as
hes always imitating everybody I suppose he used to sleep at the foot of the bed
too with his big square feet up in his wifes mouth damn this stinking thing
anyway wheres this those napkins are ah yes I know I hope the old press doesnt
creak ah I knew it would hes sleeping hard
had a good time
somewhere still she must have given him great value for his money of course he
has to pay for it from her O this nuisance of a thing
I hope theyll have
something better for us in the other world tying ourselves up God help us
thats all right for tonight now the lumpy old jingly bed always reminds me of
old Cohen I
suppose he scratched himself in it often enough and he thinks father bought it
fromº Lord Napier that I used to admire
when I was a little girl because I told him easy piano O
I like my bed
God here we are as bad as ever after 16 years
how many houses were
we in at all Raymond terrace and Ontario terrace and Lombard street and
Holles street and he
goes about whistling every time were on the run again his huguenots or the
frogs march
pretending to help
the men with our 4 sticks of furniture and then the City Arms hotel worse
and worse says Warden Daly that charming place on the landing always somebody
inside praying then
leaving all their
stinks after them
always know who was
in there last every time were just getting on right something happens or he
puts his big foot in it Thoms and Helys and Mr Cuffes and Drimmies either hes
going to be run into prison over his old lottery tickets that was to be all our
salvations or he goes and gives impudence well have him coming home with the
sack soon out of the Freeman too like the rest on account of those Sinner Fein
or the freemasons then well see if the little man he showed me
dribbling along in
the wet all by himself round by Coadys lane will give him much consolation
that he says is so capable and sincerely Irish
he is indeed judging
by the sincerity of the trousers I saw on him wait theres Georges church
bells wait 3 quarters the hour 1º wait 2
oclock well thats a nice hour of the night for him to be coming home at to
anybody climbing down into the area if anybody saw him
Ill knock him off that
little habit tomorrow first Ill look at
his shirt to see
or Ill see if he has
that French letter still in his pocketbook
{u21, 861}
I suppose he thinks I dont know deceitful men all their 20 pockets arent
enough for their lies then why should we tell them even if its the truth they
dont believe you then
tucked up in bed like
those babies in the Aristocrats Masterpiece he brought me another time as if
we hadnt enough of that in real life without some old Aristocrat or whatever his
name is disgusting you more with those rotten pictures children with two heads
and no legs thats the kind of villainy theyre always dreaming about with not
another thing in their empty heads they ought to get
slow poison the
half of them then tea and toast for him buttered on both sides and newlaid eggs
I suppose Im nothing any more when I wouldnt let him lick me in Holles street
one night man man
tyrant as ever for the one thing
he slept on the floor
half the night naked
the way the jews
used when somebody dies belonged to them and
wouldnt eat any
breakfast or speak a word
wanting to be
petted so I thought I stood out enough for one time and let him he does it
all wrong too thinking only of his own pleasure
his tongue is too
flat or I dont know what he forgets that wethen I dont Ill make him do it
again if he doesnt mind himself and lock him down to sleep in the coalcellar
with the blackbeetles I wonder
was it her Josie
off her head with my
castoffs hes such a born liar too
no hed never have
the courage with a married woman thats why he wants me and Boylan though as
for her Denis as she calls him that forlornlooking spectacle you couldnt call
him a husband yes its some little bitch hes got in with
even when I was with
him with Milly at the College races that Hornblower with the childs bonnet
on the top of his
nob let us into by the back way he was throwing his sheeps eyes at those two
doing skirt duty
up and down I tried
to wink at him first no use of course and thats the way his money goes this
is the fruits of Mr Paddy Dignam yes they were all in great style at the grand
funeral in the paper Boylan brought in if they saw
a real officers
funeral thatd be something reversed arms muffled drums the poor horse
walking behind in black L Boom and Tom Kernan that drunken little barrelly man
that bit his tongue off falling down the mens W C drunk in some place or other
and Martin Cunningham and the two Dedaluses and Fanny MCoys husband white head of cabbage
{u21, 862}
skinny thing with a
turn in her eye
trying to sing my songs shed want to be born all over again and her old green
dress with the
lowneck as she cant
attract them any other way
like dabbling on a
rainy day I see it all now plainly and they call that friendship killing and
then burying one another and they all with their wives and families at home more
especially Jack Power keeping that barmaid he does of course his wife is always
sick or going to be sick or just getting better of it and hes a goodlooking man
still though hes getting a bit grey over the ears theyre a nice lot all of them
well theyre not going to get my husband again into their clutches if I can help
it making fun of him then behind his back I know well when he goes on with his
idiotics because he has sense enough not to squander every
penny piece he
earns down their gullets and looks after his wife and family goodfornothings
poor Paddy
Dignam all the same Im sorry in a way for him what are his wife and 5
children going to do unless he was insured comical little teetotum always stuck
up in some pub corner and her or her son waiting
Bill Bailey wont you
please come home
her widows weeds wont
improve her appearance theyre awfully becoming though if youre goodlooking
what men wasnt he yes he was at the Glencree dinner and Ben Dollard base
barreltone the night he borrowed the swallowtail to sing out of in Holles street
squeezed and squashed into them and grinning all over his big Dolly face like a
wellwhipped childs botty didnt he look a
balmy ballocks
sure enough that must have been a spectacle on the stage imagine paying 5/- in
the preserved
seats for that to see himº and
Simon Dedalus too he
was always turning up half screwed singing the second verse first
the old love is the
new was one of his so sweetly sang the maiden on the hawthorn bough
he was always on for
flirtyfying too when I sang Maritana with him at Freddy Mayers private opera
he had a delicious
glorious voice
Phoebe dearest
goodbye sweetheartº sweetheart he
always sang it not like Bartell dArcyº
sweet
tart goodbye of course he had the gift of the voice
so there was no art in
it all over you like a warm showerbath O Maritana wildwood flower we sang
splendidly though it
was a bit too high for my register even transposed and he was married at the
time to May Goulding but then hed say or
{u21, 863}
do something to knock the good out of it hes a widower now I wonder what
sort is his son he
says hes an author and
going to be a
university professor of Italian and Im to take lessons
what is he driving
at now showing him
my photo its not
good of me I ought
to have got it taken in drapery that never looks out of fashion still I look
young in it I wonder
he didnt make him a present of it altogether and me too after all why not I
saw him driving down to the Kingsbridge station with his father and mother I was
in mourning thats 11
years ago now yes hed be 11 though what was the good in going into mourning
for what was neither one thing nor the
otherº of course he insisted hed go into
mourning for the cat I
suppose hes a man now by this time
he was an innocent boy
then and a
darling little fellow in his lord Fauntleroy suit and
curly hair like
a prince on the
stage when I saw him at Mat Dillons
he liked me too I
remember they all do wait by God yes
wait yes hold on
he was on the cards
this morning when I laid out
the deck
union with a
young stranger neither
dark nor fair you met before I thought it meant him but hes no chicken nor a
stranger either besides
my face was turned the
other way what was the 7thº
card after that
the 10 of spades for a
journeyº
by
landº then there was
a letter on its
way and scandals
too the 3 queens and the
8 of diamonds for a
rise in society yes wait it all came out and
2 red 8s for new
garments look at that and didnt I dream something too yes there was
something about
poetry in it
I hope he hasnt long
greasy hair hanging into his eyes or standing up like a red Indian
what do they go
about like that for only getting themselves and their poetry laughed at I
always liked poetry when I was a girl first I thought he was a poet like
Byronº and not an ounce of it in his
composition I
thought he was quite different I wonder is
he too young hes
about wait 88 I was married 88 Milly is 15 yesterday 89 what age was he then at
Dillons 5 or 6 about 88 I suppose hes 20 or more Im not too old for him if hes
23 or 24 I hope hes not that stuck upº
university student sort no otherwise he wouldnt go sitting down in the old
kitchen with him taking Eppss cocoa and talking of course he pretended to
understand it all probably he told him he was out of Trinity college hes very young to be a professor I hope hes not a
{u21, 864}
professor like Goodwin was he was a patent professor of John Jameson they
all write about some woman in their poetry well I suppose he wont find many like
me where softly sighs of love the light guitar where poetry is in the air the
blue sea and the
moon shining so beautifully coming back on
the nightboat from
Tarifa the
lighthouse at Europa point
the guitar that
fellow played was so expressive
will I ever go
back there again
all new faces
two glancing eyes a lattice hid Ill sing that for him theyre my eyes if hes
anything of a poet two eyes as darkly bright as loves own star arent those
beautiful words as loves young star itll be a change the Lord knows to have an
intelligent person to talk to about yourself
not always listening
to him and Billy Prescotts ad and Keyess ad and Tom the Devils ad then if
anything goes wrong in their business we have to suffer Im sure hes very
distinguished Id like to meet a man like that God not those other ruck besides
hes young those fine young men I could see down in
Margate strand
bathingplaceº from the side of the rock
standing up in the sun
naked like a God or something and then plunging into the sea with them why
arent all men like that thered be some consolation for a woman like that lovely
little statue he bought I could look at him all day long curly head and his
shoulders his finger up for you to listen theres real beauty and poetry for you
I often felt I
wanted to kiss him all over also his lovely young cock there so simple
I wouldnt mind
taking him in my mouth if nobody was looking
as if it was asking
you to suck it
so clean and
white he looksº with his boyish face I
would too in ½ a minute
even if some of it
went down what
itsº
only like
gruelº or the dew theres no danger
besides hed be so
clean compared with those pigs of men I suppose never dream of washing it
from 1 years end to the other the most of them only
thats what gives the
women the moustaches Im sure
itll be grand if
I can only get in with a handsome young poet at my age Ill throw them the 1st
thing in the morning till I see if
the wishcard
comesº 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
{u21, 865}
he half faints underº 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
onº 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
theirº 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
{u21, 866}
thought on the husband or wife either its the woman he wants and he gets
her what else were we given 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
doº 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
Cº 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
{u21, 867}
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 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
{u21, 868}
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 Vilaplanaº of Santa
Maria that gave me the
rosary Rosales y OReillyº 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 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
{u21, 869}
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
theº
longing way then
Ill throw him up his eggs and tea in theº
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
più 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 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 outº 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
wouldntº 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
{u21, 870}
30/-º 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 1 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
eyeingº 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
orº 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 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
wearº shall I wear a white rose or those
fairy cakes in Liptons I love the smell of a rich
{u21, 871}
big shop at 7½d a lb or the other ones with the cherries in them and
the pinky sugar 11d a couple of lbs of
thoseº 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 theº 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
{u21, 872}
Spanish 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
2º 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 theº 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.
Trieste-Zurich-Paris,
1914-1921º.