" I, Belladonna, am the wife of a man named Wahoo,
Who early became a mandrake in Liang.
Before our matrimonyvine could be consommeted, he had to go back,
Leaving me, his wife, to dwell here ruefully alone.
The mustard has not been cut, the flaxseed bed remains unvisited —
Hemlocked in here without any neighbors, I raised my head and sighed for my Traveler's Joy:
" Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme —
I pray that he'll forget me not!"
Gingerly, I hoped, but I recently heard that the King of Ch'u,
Acting without principle and unleashing a bitterroot heart,
Slaughtered my pawpaw and brother-in-law with a jalap! jalap!
Clovered with shame, weak as a wisp of straw,
And arrowhead-swift, my husband fled with fear as a dog would.
Quick as a periwinkle, he became a fungative,
And hid amongst the stinkbushes;
But hiding became a hell-of-a-bore.
He seemed like a jackal pursued by horehounds;
Laudanum almighty, how he hopsed and hyssopped like a jack-in-the-pulpit!
When I think of it, bittersweet tears stain my bleedingheart;
I am arti-choked with antimony.
At nightshade when I sleep, it's hard to endure till the morning's glory;
I recite his name all day until my tongue curls up like a sliver of cypress.
His voice, begging balm, so ingenuous entered my ears;
Drawn by aniseedent causes, I dillied up to the visitor,
And, seeing it was my long orrised honeysuckle whom I mint at the gate,
Sloed down my steps to a hibiscus pace.
And then I saw your toothwort smile;
It reminded me of my husband's dog's tooth violets.
Borax you don't remember me but, no madder what caper you're up to,
I'm willing to lay out my scurvy Butter and Eggs. "
Tzu-hsü answered in the same cryptic vein:
" Potash! Nitre am I this fellow Wahoo whom you speak of,
Nor am I a fungative from injustice.
Listen while I tell you the currant of my travels.
I was born in Castoria and grew up in Betony Wood;
My father was a Scorpio, my mother a true Lily-of-the-valley.
Gathering up all of my goldenrod and silverweed,
This son of theirs became a Robin-Run-Around.
Rose Hips was my low-class companion,
Nelson Rockyfeldspar my uppercrust chum.
Together with them, I waded Wild Ginger Creek,
And caught cold in its squilling, wintergreen waters;
Saffronly, of the three of us, I found myself alone.
Day after day, my lotus-thread hopes dangled tenuously;
My thoughts were willows waving in the wind.
All alone, I climbed Witch Hazel Mountain;
How hard it was to cross the slippery elms and stone roots!
Cliffs towering above me, I clambered over stoneworts and rockweeds;
Often did I encounter wolfsbanes and tiger thistles.
Sometimes I would be thinking of soft spring beauties,
But suddenly would meet up with a bunch of pigsheads;
My thoughts would linger over midsummer vetches,
Yet I could never see an end to my tormentils.
So I reversed my steps, feeling compelled to spurry back;
Fennelly, I arrived here.
I grow goatsbeard,
Not dog's tooth violets.
Methinks you've scratched a fenugreek but found no tartar,
So furze tell me what you mean and don't make such a rhubarb. "
Who early became a mandrake in Liang.
Before our matrimonyvine could be consommeted, he had to go back,
Leaving me, his wife, to dwell here ruefully alone.
The mustard has not been cut, the flaxseed bed remains unvisited —
Hemlocked in here without any neighbors, I raised my head and sighed for my Traveler's Joy:
" Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme —
I pray that he'll forget me not!"
Gingerly, I hoped, but I recently heard that the King of Ch'u,
Acting without principle and unleashing a bitterroot heart,
Slaughtered my pawpaw and brother-in-law with a jalap! jalap!
Clovered with shame, weak as a wisp of straw,
And arrowhead-swift, my husband fled with fear as a dog would.
Quick as a periwinkle, he became a fungative,
And hid amongst the stinkbushes;
But hiding became a hell-of-a-bore.
He seemed like a jackal pursued by horehounds;
Laudanum almighty, how he hopsed and hyssopped like a jack-in-the-pulpit!
When I think of it, bittersweet tears stain my bleedingheart;
I am arti-choked with antimony.
At nightshade when I sleep, it's hard to endure till the morning's glory;
I recite his name all day until my tongue curls up like a sliver of cypress.
His voice, begging balm, so ingenuous entered my ears;
Drawn by aniseedent causes, I dillied up to the visitor,
And, seeing it was my long orrised honeysuckle whom I mint at the gate,
Sloed down my steps to a hibiscus pace.
And then I saw your toothwort smile;
It reminded me of my husband's dog's tooth violets.
Borax you don't remember me but, no madder what caper you're up to,
I'm willing to lay out my scurvy Butter and Eggs. "
Tzu-hsü answered in the same cryptic vein:
" Potash! Nitre am I this fellow Wahoo whom you speak of,
Nor am I a fungative from injustice.
Listen while I tell you the currant of my travels.
I was born in Castoria and grew up in Betony Wood;
My father was a Scorpio, my mother a true Lily-of-the-valley.
Gathering up all of my goldenrod and silverweed,
This son of theirs became a Robin-Run-Around.
Rose Hips was my low-class companion,
Nelson Rockyfeldspar my uppercrust chum.
Together with them, I waded Wild Ginger Creek,
And caught cold in its squilling, wintergreen waters;
Saffronly, of the three of us, I found myself alone.
Day after day, my lotus-thread hopes dangled tenuously;
My thoughts were willows waving in the wind.
All alone, I climbed Witch Hazel Mountain;
How hard it was to cross the slippery elms and stone roots!
Cliffs towering above me, I clambered over stoneworts and rockweeds;
Often did I encounter wolfsbanes and tiger thistles.
Sometimes I would be thinking of soft spring beauties,
But suddenly would meet up with a bunch of pigsheads;
My thoughts would linger over midsummer vetches,
Yet I could never see an end to my tormentils.
So I reversed my steps, feeling compelled to spurry back;
Fennelly, I arrived here.
I grow goatsbeard,
Not dog's tooth violets.
Methinks you've scratched a fenugreek but found no tartar,
So furze tell me what you mean and don't make such a rhubarb. "