Hi, Alison--glad the Home Tree Hint helped, and welcome to the
ranks of those who find and take the hint only _after_ a downed
tree has woe-begotten them. As for the status of my own "domestic
ontology," being out on a limb pretty much encapsulates it, or, as
one of the Scots balladeers says rather winsomely: "snoodless and
plaidless/she wrings her hands." Free to be me? Well, thanks all the
same, but but but--
But here's something you'll appreciate on the man's freedom/woman's
bondage front: Robin Hamilton, who, like me, is currently ballad-
hunting (him for Laredos, me for banshee material) forwarded the
(translated) lyrics to a Spanish rock song aiming to reverse the
situation in Keats's "Belle Dame Sans Merci," which the lyricist
seems to think is entitled "Lady with no mersy." (Shades of the
British Invasion: "fairy cross the mersy....") And here's what the
fairy queen says to him so wan and pale:
Welcome, reckless rider, glad to see you in my dwellings
Must have fought innumerous armies just to reach my distant land
Follow me, my brave knight, leave your glory at the gateway
Crest and shield and arms worth nothing--here it's me who's in
command
Can you see my garden? Have you smelt my drowsy flowers?
Ain't it nice to sleep amid them, could it be a more cosy bed?
Sleep with me, my brave night, I'll caress your tired body
Passion could be so breathtaking that you'll find yourself
almost dead.
After a couple more verses, "Lady with no mersy" concludes on the
following, mysteriously English (or mystifyingly Englished) note:
Fare ye well, my brave knight. fare ye well, my reckless lover,
I don't say if for forever, just forever fare ye well.
Up ya, lady with no mersy! --Candice
>Well, Candice, I'm all for spaces, virtual or otherwise, being arenas of
>freedom, which has all sorts of uncomfortable spikes (freedom for whom?
>what if one man's freedom is another woman's bondage? etc etc) - but
>clearly these cyberspaces are literally what we make them...
>
>and thanks for your Home Help Hint on the verticality of Christmas Trees.
> I tried the string and it worked. Now, if this list had not permitted
>such divagations, my domestic ontology would be infinitely more
>questionable than it currently is. This is no small thing for anyone,
>but perhaps especially for a poet.
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