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The Dancer

 

I will not dance:
I say I will not dance.
Your audience, pah, let them go home again,
Sleek, ugly pigs.    Am I to hop and prance
As long as they will pay,
And posture for their eyes, and lay
My womanhood before them?    Let them drain
Their porter pots and snuffle — I'll not stay.
For he is dead:
I tell you he is dead.
My God, did you not hear me say it
Twice already?    I held his groaning head
In these remembering arms,
And cursed the charms
That could not stop his going.     Must I bay it
Like a dog to you ?    Quit your alarms!
They shout and stamp?
Then, let them shout and stamp,
Those booted hogs and lechers — I'm away
To sit beside my dead.    O God, you tramp
Upon me too, and twine
More sorrows round me than are mine
With holy unconcern.  .  .  .  Don't bar my way,
I'm going to my dead.  .  .  . Ah-h-h, stamping swine!
 
 
 
 

James Stephens

 
 
Dance Poetry
A comprehensive anthology
Edited by Alkis Raftis
Copyright 2012

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