Mark but this flea, and mark in this,

How little that which thou deniest me is;

It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,

And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.

Thou know’st that this cannot be said

A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead;

Yet this enjoys before it woo;

And pampered swells with one blood made of two,

And this, alas, is more than we would do!

O stay, three lives in one flea spare,

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,

How little that which thou deniest me is;

It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,

And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.

Thou know’st that this cannot be said

A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead;

Yet this enjoys before it woo;

And pampered swells with one blood made of two,

And this, alas, is more than we would do!

O stay, three lives in one flea spare,

riverrun - the course which a river shapes and follows through the landscape + The
Letter: Reverend (letter start) + "How pleasant it would be to walk out alone,
first along by the river and then through the park." (The Dead) + - 'rn' or 'ren'
(name).
'Church of the Immaculate Conception' also known as Adam and Eve's is a Roman
Catholic church run by the Franciscans and it is located on Merchants Quay, Dublin.
A chapel on the site was destroyed in 1619 and later rebuilt. The Franciscans
secretly said Mass in the Adam and Eve Tavern, where the popular name of the
present church comes from. In 1759 a newer church was built, which was later
replaced by the current church + "Old as they were, her aunts also did their share.
Julia, though she was quite grey, was still the leading soprano in Adam and Eve's,
and Kate, being too feeble to go about much, gave music lessons to beginners on the
old square piano in the back room." (The Dead) → Miss Kate and Miss Julia are based
on Joyce's own aunts: The Misses Flynn who, as their great-nephew put it, 'trilled
and warbled in a Dublin church up to the age of seventy'. This was the ancient
Franciscan church on the south quays popularly known as Adam and Eve's (Peter
Costello: A Biography).
swerve - an abrupt change of direction, an erratic deflection from an intended
course

bend - curve + swerve of shore ... bend of bay - curving shoreline of Dublin Bay,
seen from two different points of view: that of the native on the shore and that of
the foreign invader (or returning exile) at sea.

bay - a body of water partially enclosed by land but with a wide mouth, affording
access to the sea

commodious - roomy and comfortable

vicus (l) - village, hamlet; row of houses, quarter of a city + vicious circle -
situation in which a cause produces a result that itself produces the original
cause + Giambattista Vico.

recirculation - a renewed or fresh circulation

Howth - promontory and peninsula on the northern side of Dublin bay

environs - surroundings, outskirts + FDV (First Draft Version): brings us to Howth

Castle & Environs!

Wsir (Osiris) - where the sign "throne", usually used for writing the consonant
st, mainly in the word "place", is used for writing the sound ws. The "eye" writes
the sound ir. Third sign denotes "god" and is not pronounced.

Tristram - Tristan of Lyonnesse (hero of medieval romance, nephew of Mark of

Cornwall, lover of Isolde of Ireland) + Sir Tristrem - metrical romance by Thomas
the Rhymer from 13. c. + Sir Amory Tristram, one of Ireland's Norman conquerors,
founder of the St Lawrence family of Howth → Joyce: "Sir Amory Tristram 1st earl of
Howth changed his name to Saint Lawrence, in Brittany (North Armorica)".

violer - a player of the viol, in early use esp. one attached to the household of
the king, a noble, etc. + viola d'amore - a sweet-toned tenor viol (Italian,
literally 'viol of love') + 'viola in all moods and senses' (Joyce's letter to
Harriet Shaw Weaver).

d'amore (it) - of love + d'amores (Portuguese) - of loves + FDV: Sir Tristram,

viola d'amores, had not encore arrived passencore rearrived on a merry isthmus from
North Armorica to wielder fight his peninsular war, nor stones sham rocks by the
Oconee exaggerated theirselves in exaggerated themselse to Laurens county, Ga,
doubling all the time, nor a voice redffire from afire answered bellowsed mishe
mishe chishe to tufftuff thouartpatrick thouartpeatrick.

A long sea implies an uniform and steady motion of long and extensive waves; on the
contrary, a short sea is when they run irregularly, broken, and interrupted, so as
frequently to burst over a vessel's side or quarter + Short Sea (Nautical) - Irish
Sea.

pas encore (fr) - not yet + passe encore (fr) - Said of something passable or
tolerable + cor (l) - heart + 'passencore = pas encore and ricorsi storici of Vico'
(Joyce's letter to Harriet Shaw Weaver).

rearrive - to arrive again + FDV: had not encore arrived passencore rearrived

Armorica - name of the north-western part of Gaul, now called Bretagne or Brittany
scraggy - rough, irregular or broken in outline or contour + scrag (Slang) - neck +
FDV: on a merry isthmus

isthmus - a narrow portion of land, enclosed on each side by water, and connecting
two larger bodies of land; a neck of land + isthmos (gr) - neck + 'Isthmus of
Sutton a peck of land between Howth head and the plain' (Joyce's letter to Harriet
Shaw Weaver) + happy christmas.

minor - small

wielder - a ruler, governer; one who uses or acts skilfully + wieder (ger) - again
+ wiel (Dutch) - wheel + 'wielderfight = wiederfechten = refight' (Joyce's letter
to Harriet Shaw Weaver).

'Arthur Wellesley (of Dublin) fought in
passim' (Joyce's letter to Harriet Shaw
landed in Portugal under the command of
the future Duke of Wellington + penis +
peninsular war
the Peninsular war' & 'Tristan et Iseult,
Weaver) + In August 1808, British forces
Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Wellesley,
isolate + FDV: to wielder fight his

top sawyer - a worker at a sawpit who stands above the timber; one who holds a
superior position, a first-rate hand at something + Topsawyer's Rock - a rock
formation on the Oconee river in Georgia, United States + Tom Soyer

rocks (Slang) - testicles + FDV: nor stones sham rocks by the Oconee exaggerated
theirselves in exaggerated themselse to Laurens county, Ga, doubling all the time,

Oconee - river in Georgia + ochone - exclamation of regret or grief.

exaggerate - to heap up