Page 931 - ULYSSES

Ulysses

O, Leopold lost the pin of his drawers
He didn’t know what to do,
To keep it up,
To keep it up.

BLOOM: (Coldly) You have broken the spell. The last
straw. If there were only ethereal where would you all be,
postulants and novices? Shy but willing like an ass pissing.
THE YEWS: (Their silverfoil of leaves precipitating, their
skinny arms aging and swaying) Deciduously!
THE NYMPH: (Her features hardening, gropes in the folds
of her habit) Sacrilege! To attempt my virtue! (A large moist
stain appears on her robe) Sully my innocence! You are not
fit to touch the garment of a pure woman. (She clutches
again in her robe) Wait. Satan, you’ll sing no more
lovesongs. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. (She draws a
poniard and, clad in the sheathmail of an elected knight of nine,
strikes at his loins) Nekum!
BLOOM: (Starts up, seizes her hand) Hoy! Nebrakada!
Cat o’ nine lives! Fair play, madam. No pruningknife. The
fox and the grapes, is it? What do you lack with your
barbed wire? Crucifix not thick enough? (He clutches her
veil) A holy abbot you want or Brophy, the lame gardener,
or the spoutless statue of the watercarrier, or good mother
Alphonsus, eh Reynard?

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