Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DANCING OF SULEIMA, by CLINTON SCOLLARD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DANCING OF SULEIMA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When suleima, the bayadere
Last Line: "revenge!"" -- thrilled down the night."
Subject(s): Dancing & Dancers; Revenge; Seduction


WHEN Suleima, the bayadere,
Danced for Selim, the Grand Vizier,
The fountain spurtled, with mellow fret,
Out of its mouth of jade and jet;
And lanterns, hued like the rainbow's arc,
In the citron branches, dotted the dark;
And over the courtyard's burnished tiles
Cast their shimmer, and made her seem,
With all the glamourie of her smiles,
Like a houri out of paradise,
Luring with Lilith lips and eyes, --
The creature of a dream!

When Suleima, the bayadere,
Danced for Selim the Grand Vizier,
Pleadingly the viols played
In the dusk of the feathery bamboo shade;
And the zithers wove their tinkling spells
In tune with her golden anklet bells;
While a tensely chorded dulcimer,
And a reed with the tenderest touch of tone,
Into the melody throbbed to blur
The whole to a wondrous rhapsody
That lapped and eddied about her, -- she,
Harmony's very own!

When Suleima, the bayadere,
Danced for Selim, the Grand Vizier,
Out of the midnight of her hair
Star-shine darted adown the air
From orbed diamonds; her virgin arms
Showed no cincture of jeweled charms,
But a girdle glistened around her waist,
Where rubies glowed with their pulse of fire;
As light and white as the foam and chaste,
Were the folds that floated about her form,
Palpitant, gracile, willowy, warm, --
A vision of desire!

When Suleima, the bayadere,
Danced for Selim, the Grand Vizier,
Such was the lightness of her tread,
Such was the pose of her shapely head,
Such was the motion of every limb, --
Flexuous wrist and ankle slim, --
Subtly swaying from head to heel,
That the hearts of those who watched her there,
Marked her poise and glide and wheel
In measures intricate as a maze,
Were ever after, for all their days,
Thrall to a sweet despair!

When Suleima, the bayadere,
Danced for Selim, the Grand Vizier, --
For him who had crept so night to the throne
That in dreams he saw it his very own, --
The wave of a riotous unrest
Surged, of a sudden, within his breast.
More to him than the monarch's crown
To quaff from her lips of passion's wine,
His face in her billowy hair to drown!
And he swore a great oath under his breath,
While his hands were clenched like one in death,
"By Allah, she shall be mine!"

When Suleima, the bayadere,
Danced for Selim, the Grand Vizier,
In the lure of her smile was fate,
In her bosom was hidden hate, --
Hate, and the canker of ceaseless pain
For her soul's beloved, foully slain.
So, with brighter blandishment, her eyes
Burned on those of the Grand Vizier,
And she opened her arms in witching wise,
While a sensuous something in her tread,
"All is thine, if thou askest," said, --
Suleima, the bayadere!

When Suleima, the bayadere,
Danced for Selim, the Grand Vizier,
And the last low strain of the music died,
And the raptured courtiers turned aside
Through the heavy scent of the citron bloom,
And the fading lanterns wrought a gloom,
Making a shadowy bower of the place
That was meet for love and love's delight,
Back from an instant's mad embrace
The Vizier reeled to moan and die;
While a laugh, and a woman's triumph cry, --
"Revenge!" -- thrilled down the night.





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