Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 37

Line 37: "Spitty as a pricksure they go scruffling down the Bulling Roude beyond the iron realings, snurchin' up each other's badgered caps an' grubbin' at each other's bawls wit' wilde hellarity, obliffeyus to her sprying from the foolyage in wishtful, privet larchery."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Pretty as a picture they go scuffling down the Billing Road beyond the iron railings, snatching up each other's battered caps and grabbing at each other's balls with wild hilarity, oblivious to her spying from the foliage in lustful, private lechery."

"Spitty as a pricksure"
Ejaculation/orgasm. Lucia is working herself up into a foamy soup of pleasure. "Pricksure" is a reference to "cocksure," "arrogant or confident." Probably more a description of the schoolboys she's lusting after than Lucia herself.

"scruffling"
Scuffling with an "r" thrown in to show that they're scruffy and scuffling. This adds to the image that they're wild, school having yet to actually tame them.

"Bulling Roude"
Saint Andrew's Hospital and the boys grammar school were/are on Billings Road in Northampton. Lucia sees them as bulls, more rough, wild animal imagery. A stampede of boys being as effective in their destruction as a squall of boys. "Roude" is probably simply a combination of "road" and "rude." I probably don't have to explain why teenaged boys might be described as rude.

"beyond the iron realings"
The fence around Saint Andrew's Hospital keeps out the real world. Lucia lives in an unknown state caused by her paranoia and schizophrenia and, probably, her medication.

"snurchin' up"
"Snatching" combined with "urchin." Lucia can't help filling her thought with descriptions of these boys she's eye-fucking.

"badgered caps"
I translated "badgered" as "battered" but it could easily be something else. The badger simply evokes more wild, untamable beasts.

"grubbin'"
Like a wild boar searching for food. We get it, Lucia! These kids are wee wild beasties!

"each other's bawls"
They're playing one of those boyhood games where you smack your friend in the crotch. I never understood those games. How is that a game?! I don't want to be punched there at all! "Bawls" also suggests crying noisily which is what I would do if a friend suddenly punched me in the balls.

"wit' wilde hellarity"
"Wit" is not how I would describe a game where you punch your mate in the testicles. But that's probably the height of their wit which is why Lucia brings it up. "Wilde" is probably a reference to Olivia Wilde because these young boys would totally hit themselves in the balls over her. "Hellarity" reminds the reader that teenaged boys are the worst. It is hell to be among them and their wit and their ball-grabbing.

"obliffeyus"
Yet another reference to the River Liffey but also suggesting her father's Ulysseus. Maybe this is warning the reader that if they're oblivious to Ulysseus, they will not notice the horny woman staring at them from the bushes. What I mean is that the reader won't get a lot of Alan's references.

"sprying"
Lucia is spying on the spry young boys who she would like to pry from the real world and take them with her.

"foolyage"
Lucia is a fool for thinking the spry young boys would want anything to do with her vagina. Well, maybe some of them would. But then they would be the fools! No wait. They'd be gods among their peers, actually.

"wishtful"
Lucia lustfully wishes she could bang these teenagers. What kind of meds do they have her on?! Did Samuel Beckett ever write a play about a young writer trying to learn about art from his master while the master's daughter constantly tries to fuck him. Wasn't this a sitcom on Fox in the late 1980s?

"privet"
Lucia's private thoughts while hiding in a "privet," or bush. Probably also a reference to her lower lady parts, being considered both privates and bushy.

"larchery"
"Lechery" combined with "archery," bringing us back to the Eros and Psyche myth evoked in the previous sentence. Lucia was also described as a "darter" earlier. So here we see her eyes lecherously darting like arrows back and forth between all the various young asses moving past the hospital.

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 36

Line 36: "She injoys the handson dictors with their bed's-eye menners, und dien, roughly for o'cock, she aften langours at the gaits to watch the jesslin' squallboys from the Glammar Scruel that stems adjescent to hier pysche-hattrick instincution."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "She enjoys the handsome doctors with their bedside manners, and then, roughly four o'clock, she often lingers at the gates to watch the jostling schoolboys from the Grammar School that stands adjacent to her psychiatric institution.

"injoys"
Joy from inside. Perhaps a reference to feeling sexual pleasure from the attention of the doctors. I don't think any of the following suggests the doctors are overstepping their position; I just think Lucia derives sexual pleasure from the attention, being that she lacks any real intimacy.

"handson dictors"
She wants to put her hands on the dicks of the handsome doctors.

"bed's-eye menners"
She can't take her eyes off these men who administer to her while she's in bed.

"und dien"
German for "and serve." I'm not clear on how this fits into the context of the hot doctors and the horny patient unless I'm simply denying the obvious sexual connotations of servicing somebody. I'm sure that's it. She serves roughly for cock (see next phrase!).

"roughly for o'cock"
Alan Moore needs to get his "l" key fixed! I stole that joke from The Clock on the Wall located in MUSH space at TinyTim. We all understand dirty jokes so I don't have to explicate this any more. I mean, sure, I've been explicating super obvious things this entire time and probably missing really deep and well constructed dualities. But I accept that Alan Moore is approximately 30 thousand times smarter than I am. Anyway, Lucia wants some cock already.

"langours"
Basically to linger pleasurably. And we know what kind of pleasure this lingering to watch the school boys gives Lucia because her Lucy-Lips have put her unconscious right out there for everybody to see. She's super horny all the time now. I imagine she hasn't had a really good lay since Samuel Beckett. And even then, he probably didn't fuck her. He probably just sat naked in a chair staring out the window thinking about being as great a writer as James Joyce as Lucia diddled herself on the windowsill.

"gaits"
Lucia hangs out by the gates of the hospital ("gaits") watching the asses of the young boys as they walk by ("gaits").

"jesslin' squallboys"
A "jess" is a harness for a falcon in falconry to which you would attach a leash. Perhaps this indicates their ferality and possibly that Lucia would like to tame them or that school and society have put the jesses on them to turn them into proper gentlemen instead of raging squallboys. The "squall" in "squallboys" (meaning "schoolboys," of course!) continues the thread of the boys being wild. Since squall's bring heavy moisture, the indication is that Lucia is properly turned on by watching the schoolboys pass the hospital. You know what I'm talking about! The sexual response in the female anatomy!

"Glammar Scruel"
The boys are "glamorous," probably more in the idea of a spell which charms the onlooker than like a model, being that Alan Moore wrote this. Lucia sees school as cruel which fits with the idea of imagining the boys in jesses as the school tries its best to turn them into something they were never meant to be. Lucia probably empathizes with them as her situation is reflected in this perception.

"that stems adjescent"
Changing "stands" to "stems" seems a long way to go for not much pay off so Alan must have chosen it for a particular reason. The only one I can come up with, no surprise, is that a stem is phallic and so this is Lucia once more thinking about cock. The rest of the sentence supports this reading so I'm not too concerned that it's just my mind that is constantly thinking of cock. "Adjescent" calls back the "jess" from earlier, just in case the reader missed it because they were unfamiliar with falconry. If they noticed it here, they might go, "Oh wait! Didn't Lucia use jess earlier too? I wonder what that is?!" It's also reminiscent of "ascent" which, according to our sexy theme for this sentence, probably reflects Lucia's desire to climb on top of the squallboys' stems.

"hier"
Because this word should be "her," it probably means the transformative word references Lucia. In this case, we have a variant on the prefix "heiro-" which means "sacred" or "priestly." This could be an indication of her celibacy but also that Lucia's daily motions are like a catechism. Observing the boys at 4 o'clock every day is one of her sacred devotions.

"pysche-hattrick instincution"
This is wild and probably above my capacity for interpretation. First we get the flipped letters in "psyche," "pysche." This is possibly an actual typo but how can a person tell?! A "hat trick" is either when a hockey player scores three goals in one game or simply a reference to a magician pulling a rabbit out of his hat. I doubt Lucia knows anything about hockey so we'll assume this references the rabbit out of the hat. And since this is a mix-up of the word "psychiatric," let's assume this magic trick references the hospital. Perhaps Lucia sees the hospital's attempt to pull the real and sane Lucia out of her schizophrenia as a silly magic trick that ultimately means nothing. As for "instincution," I think I'm spent on this sentence. What does it mean? I don't know! It hints at "instinct" and "persecution," I think. Maybe the institution's instinct is to persecute rather than to help make the patient whole. Perhaps this is why Lucia views the place as a magician attempting an inconsequential trick to fool outside observers into thinking they've changed an insane patient into a sane one.

"pysche"
Whoops! Because of the misspelling or typo or, for whatever reason, purposeful change of psyche, I forgot to even discuss it. Obviously this has to do with Psyche of the Cupid (or Eros) and Psyche myth. If I could remember anything about C.S. Lewis's Til We Have Faces, maybe I'd have more to say about this! And maybe I'd get the whole Psyche scoring a Hat Trick reference!

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 35

Line 35: "Though it's not ideyll she likes displace the best of all she's in-bin."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Though it's not ideal, she likes this place the best of all she's been in."

"ideyll"
Saint Andrew's Hospital grounds are not ideal because they're not exactly idyllic.

"displace"
This place is a place where Lucia feels displaced. She would rather be visiting a beautiful garden of her choice rather than one where she has been forced.

"in-bin"
Lucia has been tossed in the bin. She has been discarded and forgotten. These are all things that make the gardens less than ideal. But the garden is, at least, better than the ward.

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 34

Line 34: "Outsighed, she stunnds and tics it in, from the cerebrulean skullbowl of the fymirment above to the sage cortin of the fir hereyeson, ur the flarebeds close at hand withal their petalsparks and fleurwork sprays o' culeur."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Outside, she stands and takes it in, from the cerulean sky bowl of the firmament above to the sage curtain of the far horizon, or the flowerbeds close at hand with all their petals and firework sprays of color."

"Outsighed"
Like Dorothy going from black and white to stunning color, Lucia steps outside and sighs at the dramatic difference of the two worlds.

"stunnds"
Lucia stands in stunned silence at the beauty of it all.

"tics it in"
Lucia takes in the view with a hint of her mental illness. Perhaps bodily or facial tics, maybe caused by her medications suppressing her joy but not enough for spastic spurts of her ecstasy showing through.

"cerebrulean skullbowl"
"Cerulean" partially containing "Cerberus" and "cerebral." The sky is like her mind, as the inside of her skull, vast and colorful. Perhaps Cerberus is hinted at in that she has left the grave of the hospital or escaped Hell and skirted past the guard dog at its gates. A skull being an image that could hint at death and the grave and Hell.

"skullbowl of the fymirment"
Lots of Norse imagery and here we get Ymir whose body was used to fashion the Earth and sky, particularly his skull to create the heavens. Ymir's brains were made into the clouds which contributes to the imagery of the "cerebrulean" skies witnessed by Lucia.

"sage cortin of the fir hereyeson"
Lucia is looking out towards a grove or forest at the edge of her vision. Sage and fir denote the trees and bushes of nature that she's gazing upon (her eyes on). Cortin may just be an indication that her new surroundings have stimulated her physically as well as mentally. "Sage" also means a wise person, perhaps paired with "cortin" to describe how Lucia's mind revs up once she steps out of the ward and into the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape.

"ur"
Primitive. A natural instinctual response or urge has kicked in as Lucia enters the natural world.

"flarebeds"
Flowerbeds. Like Dorothy entering Oz, Lucia is overwhelmed by the colors around her in stark opposition to the greys of the hospital ward. The flowers colors flare all around her.

"withal"
All of these colors are smashing in to Lucia to be considered in the short moment she steps outside.

"petalsparks"
More "flaring" imagery. The flowers colors pop like sparks from moving pedals or machinery.

"fleurwork sprays"
The colors of the flowers (fleur) shoot up from the ground and spray outward on their petals like a fireworks display.

"culeur"
"Color" but also the French word "couleur" for color. Perhaps Alan Moore gives the French word for color because it might force somebody to look up the definition of color which they probably wouldn't do otherwise. "I know what 'color' means!" is something I definitely would have said and thought before looking up the definition of couleur which is, translated into English, "a quality of the light reflected by the surface of an object (independent of its shape), according to the visual impression it produces (a color, colors); property that is attributed to light, to objects to produce such an impression (color)." So the definition of color emphasizes that it exists only because light, or Lucia, has bounced off of it, or, more simply, looked at it. Lucia creates this amazing display of color when she looks at it.

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 33

Line 33: "With her compinion thus-why's beassured, Lucia blots her nips upon a paper lapkin and excurses herself, skipling out and thistling down a freshly dizzifected carrydor towheres glass D'orways at its fatherst and, light runnin' inter light."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "With her companion thuswise reassured, Lucia blots her lips upon a paper napkin and excuses herself, skipping out and whistling down a freshly disinfected corridor toward glass doorways at its farthest end, light running into light.

"compinion"
Companion who is meant to keep her in her place, as a pin would do. Also a bee, as before, with a stinger.

"thus-why's"
The "why" is possessive although that may just be to keep from having the "y" and "s" together, thus forming a different sound than intended. So I'll simply assume the why doesn't possess anything. Instead, changing "wise" to "whys" (see? It's weird, right? Just read that as a multiplicity of why) changes the noun from meaning "full of knowledge" to "full of questions." This is probably about how Patricia asks Lucia the same questions every day but could also simply be how Lucia is full of questions about the reality of her past and present.

"beassured"
Lucia has assured her bee, Patricia, that Lucia will be okay to spend the rest of the day on her own.

"blots her nips upon a paper lapkin"
Spoonerism of "lips" with "napkin." Lapkin is appropriate because the napkin rests on the lap during tea. Lucia blotting her nips isn't appropriate at all but it does remind one of leaking teats or udders and thus keeps Nora in our minds. Maybe it's also sexual although I've never seen any porn where a woman dabs at her nipples with a napkin. Maybe I just don't watch enough porn.

"excurses herself"
Lucia removes the curse of being a prisoner of Saint Andrew's Hospital by shedding herself of the authority that would keep her watched and sedated. You know, Patricia!

"skipling"
Skipping but reminiscent of ripling, as water would do when it's on the move. Light also ripples. Remember that Lucia is both water and light! Probably doesn't have anything to do with Rudyard Kipling although you can't rule out anything. Who knows what Alan Moore was thinking? I bet even Alan Moore doesn't remember exactly what he was thinking this many years later!

"thistling"
I translated this to "whistling" simply because the vowel used but I suspect it could be hustling as well. Thistles are prickly which keeps up the "pin" and stinger imagery.

"dizzifected carrydor"
The disinfectant probably makes Lucia dizzy, sometimes necessitating somebody carry Lucia down it.

"towheres"
Could be "toward" or "to where." "Tow" probably goes with "carry" in the previous word, suggesting the need of somebody else to sometimes help Lucia navigate this hallway to freedom.

"D'orways"
"D'or" is "golden" in French, describing the way the light from outside shines through the building's glass-covered exit.

"at its fatherst"
Lucia constantly has her father on her mind. James was also often far away, if not physically than mentally as he concentrated on his writing. Plus James was far from Lucia when she was in the hospital. And, of course, he's quite far from her since he's been dead for many decades at this time.

"light runnin' inter light"
Light moving toward light is literally Lucia moving toward the sunlight. Lucia flees from having been "interred" in the Hospital, escaping the grave of her captors to the light above ground.

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Lines 31-32

Line 31: "Bee off, and don't you weary about me, Pat. Isle be writer's reign.'"

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Be off, and don't you worry about me, Pat. I'll be right as rain."

"Bee off"
Patricia is distracting. Also she probably often pricks Lucia with a needle to sedate her, so while mostly harmless, she can occasionally be threatening.

"weary"
Pat's constant worrying and surveillance, her need to hover around Lucia the "flawer," is wearying.

"Isle"
No woman is an island or something.

"writer's reign"
The writer holds all the power in a narrative or a story. The writer is king. Here, Moore can be referring to himself (since he's writing it all) or he could be referencing James Joyce and the power and control he has over Lucia and her situation (since Lucia is non-fictional and Alan, even though he's writing this, wasn't the one to stick Lucia in Saint Andrew's Hospital). This can also be self-referential in that the entire scene is seen through Lucia's perception and her strange language which is mostly only observable when written down. Most of this would be missed if listening to it as an audio book.

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 30

Line 30: "I dent mind bein' bi myself, and I dar say you've auther fish to frey."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "I don't mind being by myself, and I dare say you've other fish to fry."

"dent mind"
Lucia's mind isn't perfect and has some flawers.

"bein' by myself"
Looks like Alan is suggesting Lucia was into the ladies as well as the Samuel Becketts!

"I dar say"
Sorry but this is, to me, unfathomable. Why turn "dare" into "dar" in this instance? I doubt it has anything to do with the Daughters of the Revolution. I mean, it might do! But probably not.

"auther"
Lucia's father was an author.

"frey"
Freyr or Frey is the Norse God of fertility and peace and rain and sunshine. This also could reference Freyja (Freyr's twin sister) who is also associated with fertility and also sex and love and portentious magic. The portent aspect of Freyja could be important in that Lucia's way of twisting words becomes a sort of spell which reveals that which is hidden or unknown. Frey could also reference "fray," suggesting every day is a constant battle within Lucia's mind as she "wonders" the grounds.