Ecstasy, Xie and me
are rapt in romance and poetry,
in a place of private reality;
in a dance of words, from Alpha to Xie;
beyond some old prig's photography;
beyond some slum's brutal butchery;
beyond false counts of chronology,
and London's refined society---
if only it could be:
in ecstasy,
Xie and me.
Starward
[jlc]
Author's Notes/Comments:
The poem contains a dense amount of historical material, such that I think notations are justified.
Line 1: Xie (here pronounced as "Exie," is Xie Kitchin (1864-1925) the most beautiful of Lewis Carroll's models (by his own word)
Line 3: a place like Wonderland of Carroll's Alice books
Line 4: Greek letters; but Xie is pronounced "Zee," and here her nickname is converted to that same pronunciation
Line 5: Lewis Carroll; with whom Xie Kitchin had a falling out, but of whom she never gossipped
line 6: the Whitechapel serial murders, August through November, 1888
line 7: age differences between Xie and this younger man who adores her
line 8: the society in which the Kitchins, including Xie, naturally moved
line 9: the key line of the poem
line 11: here her name is pronounced "Zee"
