Even as to a music, stately and sad, The young girls' feet begin to move in a dance, And curiously for joy shift and advance; So to a mournful waltz, sombre and sweet; All laughing things move with delighted feet, So all things that draw light and laughing breath Move to the mournful waltz of life and death. Comedy is a girl dancing in time To the tragic pipes, sorrowful and sublime; And ever she laughs back, and as she skips Mimics the mournful music with her lips; Then for sheer anger at her own pretense Sobs violently at her own vehemence, And mocks her tears. But when the pipings sleep She needs must cover up her face and weep. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HASTE NOT! REST NOT! by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE FUZZY-WUZZY' (SOUDAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE) by RUDYARD KIPLING HESPERIDES by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE POET'S SHIELD by ARCHILOCHUS DEATH'S JEST-BOOK: ISBRAND by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |