1
Negotiations for the kingly year
That Ajinblambia upon Ung’s throne
Would sit had been concluded, her career
Prolongable if she the realm would own
2
Thereafter and until the day she died,
Provided only she prove apt for rule,
And she and Udi will such reign. Beside,
Another clause within the franchise dual
3
Invested in the Vrikshaya the powers
To forebespeak and foreordain my fate,
Inditing the agenda of my hours
For all the years she should preside the state.
4
The liberty to treat me as she would,
In fact, was the condition she’d required
In order for to make, for ill or good,
The promise that the Queen from her desired.
5
So, it was more than curiosity
Inspiring me to listen as they talked,
With majesty and luminosity,
Of Ung, where many billions worked and walked,
6
And of Mecnita, capital of Ung,
The mighty kingdom of the planet Nya.
I wondered also whither I’d be flung,
If to a country seat, retreat or spa
7
They’d send me, or to Ufzu or to Ub.
’Twas certain from the city I’d depart.
I’d leave the chiefest town, Ung’s nave and hub,
And towards another clime my journey start.
8
“No doubt, O King,” said Udi, with a blush,
As she pronounced the royal vocative,
“You’ll need some time, you will not want to rush,
To specify the ablative and locative
9
Of Vocno’s relocation and new home,
If that you do elect that he away
As if in short-term banishment do roam,
While you, more carefree, in our palace stay.
10
At least though, please declare the hour and day
Of your enunciation of the fate
He willy-nilly always must obey.
The data and particulars please state.”
11
Then Ajinblambia, with regal mien,
Responded nonchalantly, “Very well,
I can decide this matter now, O Queen.
I need no time his fortune to foretell.
12
I’m ready at this minute, if you please,
To name the persons, places, times and things
I’ve written in his book, the ABC’s
Of the new alphabet his future brings.”
13
Then Udi said, “In that case, yes indeed,
Relate to us what Vocno is to do,
And I’ll see to it he perform the deed
And run the errand now prescribed by you.”
14
The Vrikshaya commanded, “Let him dwell
Forever in the convent as a nun,
And let him on his beads of rosewood tell
The number of the litanies he’s done.
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Let him be clad in habit to the floor,
With barbe and coif surrounding his sweet face,
And think of royalty’s éclat no more,
Preferring chastity’s more gentle grace.”
16
I was aghast; the Queen herself was shocked.
“Why will Your Majesty for life commit
Our Vocno to a nunnery, tight locked,
Unto a convent he may never quit?
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Since you have but a year agreed to reign,
And so may abdicate, why not immure
Him likewise but four seasons to remain
Lest he in his longevity endure
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The cloister though you have done off the crown?
So then upon expiry of the term,
If you elect ne’ermore to put it down,
You will be able Vocno to confirm
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Perennial and perpetual a nun,
If it do please you,” Udi did beseech.
To me her words were like a ray of sun
That penetrated clouds above a beach.
20
I was reluctant even for a year
To undergo the strictitude and rigor
That all the girls and women rightly fear.
I didn’t have the energy or vigor.
21
But for a lifetime meekly to obey
An abbess as a child obeys her nurse
Would constitute a burden I daresay
Than which no other burden could be worse.
22
But Ajinblambia explained her mind,
“If I do that it will appear that I’ve
A mere detainee, not a nun, confined.
This would with etiquette and manners strive,
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As if the olden convent were profane,
A doss house, an asylum or a jail.
Why should I cause the abbess suchlike pain?
Let me confine him in the nunnish pale
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Forever now, in principle, instead.
Then if I shall have chosen to resign
And take the crown of Ung from off my head,
His nunhood to amnesia to consign
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It’s possible I’ll choose, or leave intact
Instead th’ ennunment I’ve just now prescribed,
According to my mood and to the act
I shall draw up and duly have inscribed
26
Before that time,” said she of raven hair.
Queen Udi seemed dismayed. She looked at me
Apologizing for my foot caught in the snare
Unthinkingly she’d looped about my knee.
27
Both she and I implicitly foreknew
That neither she nor I could bend the will
Of Ajinblambia. We could but rue
The destiny that I must now fulfil.
28
“O Vocno, are there habits in your suite?
They say they saw you dressed like to a nun,
That you go clad in habits on the street.
I wager in your quarters there is one.”
29
I uttered half my glossary to say
A simple, “Yes”. Thereat she asked of me,
“But is it made in the Defdefan way?
Their pattern does it follow faithfully?”
30
The other half now I did answer, “No.”
I couldn’t mention that their canon rules
That nobody the skirting stitch or sew.
The skirts are made by looms with special tools.
31
“Oh, no?” did Ajinblambia repeat,
“I wonder where Defdefan nunnish weeds
We can obtain, if haply on the street
There is a clothier to fulfil our needs.”
32
Queen Udi mentioned that she still possessed
The habit she had worn the day we flew,
The day that with the nuns we travelled west
By train to Fwascren, far from Plubac’s crew.
33
“Go fetch your habit,” now the King did bid,
And Udi, quick to show docility,
Sprang up and in her dressing room now hid.
Returning shortly, with agility
34
Behind herself two russet leather bags
With brazen zippers, each a hassock’s size,
She drew. On each there were some baggage tags.
She stopped and left them right before our eyes.
35
“In here, there are the coif, the barbe, the wimple,
The skirt and bodice of the habit too,
The camisole and petticoats, the simple
Brassiere and panties, both quite fresh and new.
36
The stockings and the garters are inside,
The sash and beads and either low-heeled shoe,
The implements of the trousseau beside:
The bit, the bonds, the mask, the pillows too.
37
Thus speaking, one by one she now withdrew
The garments, neatly folded, pressed and wrapped
In envelopes of vinyl, and she threw
Them on the oaken table, as she snapped
38
The garters and the panties to make sure
They had sufficient elasticity.
At last thereout the shoes she did procure.
“They fit so right, it is felicity.”
39
The King of Ung then looked the room unto
Queen Udi’d tugged the leathern bags wherefrom,
“What is the nature of the room whence you,
With bags behind you, docilely did come?”
40
“That is my gynaeceum, my boudóir.
Therein a score of dresses I maintain
Lest haply at midday I must afar
On business go,” Queen Udi did explain,
41
“To my apartment then I needn’t go,
But rather in this dressing room change garb.”
The Vrikshaya inquired, “You will, I trow,
Let Vocno enter to do on his barbe
42
And all the other biliments you’ve brought.”
“Yes, surely, there are table, mirror, chair,
The best appointments money’s ever bought,
With scents and oil and brushes for the hair.”
43
The new-crowned, long-haired, lovely lady King
Said, “Vocno, gather up the nunnish weeds
And to the gynaeceum quickly spring,
For to endue yourself now you must needs.
44
A law I prómulgate for you to hark.
Henceforth in habit only may you walk,
Regardless whether it be light or dark.
No diction not Defdefan may you talk.
45
Unruliness and indocility
To this new law a crime will reckoned be,
You’ll always have to show ability
To pray a prayer and kneel upon a knee.
46
Have I made clear my wishes?” “Yes,” said I,
Then hurried to the Queen’s boudóir to dress.
All of a sudden, I was keen to try
The weeds, my zeal I scarcely could suppress.
47
It suddenly was obvious to me
That all the portents that had foreordained
My cloistered destiny did quite agree
With the commandment of the one who reigned.
48
This was the joyous, fortunate fruition
Of all the tokens given from on high
That signalled my eventual tuition
Inside the cenoby till that I die.
49
In Udi’s lovely little dressing room,
I took from out its envelope each weed.
I spread each on the table, and did groom
Myself, undressing quickly, as per need,
50
Then smoothing and in powder fingering,
Each garment to my face I did bring near
That I might smell and taste the lingering
Of Udi’s fresh immaculacy dear.
51
I was in raptures, ecstasy and bliss.
I was transported to the other world
As every seam and placket I did kiss.
My former clothes into the chute I hurled.
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I slid into the stockings, creamy white,
The garters I did loop my thighs withal,
Adjusting them till they were almost tight
For I would not that either stocking fall.
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Now carefully the panties I drew up
And snapped the band about my slender waist.
Unto each breast I pressed the conic cup
Of my brassiere. Each strap I neatly placed
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Upon my narrow shoulders, frail and thin.
I let the camisole drop down my arms,
And, taking up the petticoats, stepped in,
Delighted with their flouncy, frilly charms.
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I should describe the way the skirt was made.
A loom did weave a circle seven feet
Without a seam or hem. Nor shears nor blade
Cut out the cashmere from a larger sheet.
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The selvedge at the waist was woven round.
Tradition with those lovely nuns was such.
I put this on. The folds did spill around.
They tumbled down till they the floor did touch,
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Like to a swaying palisade of wool.
Thereafter I picked up the bodice snug
And o’er my head with expertise did pull.
I straightened it adeptly with a tug.
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Its sleeves were like my skirt. Like a cascade
Or violet inverted, they hung down.
Across the dressing room did I glissade
With joyousness transcendent. I would crown
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Myself in barbe and coif and wimple then.
What preternatural serenities
Suffused my heart of hearts now and again
As I enjoyed these sweet amenities!
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Next I put on the shoes with two inch heels
And snapped the strap my ankles looping ’round.
My shawl, which warm, when it is chilly, feels,
About my shoulders I then proudly wound.
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Impalming my black purse by its thin strap
And picking up my gloves, perchance I glanced
Into the mirror. Imposing was my wrap!
I felt so satisfied I could have danced.
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But I decided rather to subdue
My exultation and my soaring joy,
Lest Ajinblambia and Udi rue
My nunnish destiny, their clever ploy,
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And find another thing for me instead,
A penance more condign, if I were right
To reckon this as punishment. I said
Unto myself, “I’d better look contrite
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Than radiant.” I therefore sober grew,
Appearing placid, staid and dignified,
And stepped from out the dressing room in view
To see if my demeanor signified
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What I would have it signify, but they
In unison did chime, “O Vocno, beautiful!
You are the fairest sister of the day,
So proud, erect, reserved and dutiful!”
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They oohed and aahed. Such kudos and éclat!
You’d think that I had worked a miracle
By putting on a panty and a bra,
Their praises were rhapsodic, lyrical.
67
Eventually, excitement did abate,
While we three all together ate a lunch
Of salad, buns and cutlets, with a plate
Of pastries and of golden dates a bunch.
68
Now Ajinblambia addressed the Queen,
“My darling royal Udi, you remarked
That a ‘trousseau’ was in the bags, between
A couple of the garments, as I harked,
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But I confess I did not comprehend
The meaning of ‘trousseau’ that you implied.
Will you define it that I may attend
Your disquisition, for I’ve vainly tried?”
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“Oh, that!” said Udi, “They observe a rite
Including rigor and austerity.
To certain that the sisters are contrite
They mortify them with severity.
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Inside the convent’s atrium each day,
The postulants two hours are gagged and tied.
The binding is according to the way
Prescribed by old traditions true and tried.”
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“How interesting is this thing you tell!
They bind the nuns two hours every day!
It’s absolutely medieval! Well!
I hardly can believe these news today!”
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Quoth royal Udi, “It is true, I wot,
They bind the postulants. Tight bonds they wear.”
Asked Ajinblambia, “Did Vocno not
Such gagging and such binding have to bear?”
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“Of course he did, each morning. Is it true?”
Asked Udi, who now faced me. I said, “Yes.”
“Each morning for his ninety days, he knew
Exquísite agony and sore distress.”
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The Vrikshaya was curious, I saw.
It’s likely she had never heard such tales.
Defdefa’s the lone convent where, by law,
The abbess may inflict suchlike travails.
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“Queen Udi, do you know to tie the bows
Wherein Defdefa’s postulants are tied?
I’d like to witness the religious throes
Whereby their faith and chastity are tried.”
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“I do,” the lady of meridian
And parallel and tropic did reply,
“And in the bag, their enchiridion
I have, their book that shows the way to tie.
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Shall I perform the binding?” I foreknew,
Of course, what Ajinblambia would say,
And girt myself for what the Queen would do,
This was a memorable, fateful day!
79
From out a leathern bag the Queen did take,
Two pillows, made of poplin darkly red.