Oxana's Caprice

''OXANA'S CAPRICE''
NOTES TO AN OPERA

''In all her shining nakedness''-- a phrase
Tchaikovsky once had trouble with; for when
In ''Cherevichki'', he depicted just
That one erotic scene, his own malaise
In matters sexual did undermine
His usual ability, and thrust
Upon him passages of delicate
Confectionery, more fit for salon than
A witch and smith in peasant's smoky hut,
Or young Oxana restless on her bed,
In love with love, and waiting for her love.

And here is Gogol's prose-tale thus betrayed.

But I forgive Tchaikovsky though-- for he
Has held my heart for thirty years; the one
And only man beside my father whom
I truly love; and love ignores a fault.
And my complaint soon dies; for when I hear
The music of the snowstorm scene, or beat
The time as smith Vakula leaps before
His cottage fire in rhythm of a wild
Gopak, or witch Solhokha flying off
To Petersburg to fetch the slippers from
The Tsar-- Tchaikovsky sounds orgasmic then,
His climaxes intense-- and how I laugh
In sweet release, and keenest pleasure feel.

And none but him achieves it so-- the man
Who claims my gratitude; for he may build
In me at will a lover's ecstasy,
Derived from his opera ''Cherevichki''.

~ Stanley ~

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