Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE INCENSE DANCE, by T. LAWRASON RIGGS First Line: Through the dim hangings, slowly cleft in twain Last Line: In rosy haidarabad or kashmir's storied vale. Subject(s): Dancing & Dancers; Yale University | ||||||||
THROUGH the dim hangings, slowly cleft in twain, The dancer glides, white-swathed, incarnate grace -- Nor know I if that weirdly pulsing strain Inspire the trend of her consummate pace, Or be her footfall's airy-tuned trace. Poised o'er her head she bears the incense tray, A rapt, mysterious smile upon her face, Then flowerwise stoops in languorous delay Upon a pedestal the spicy grains to lay. Anon the stately treading dance she turns To drop in brazen jars at either side Her salvered balm with lissome hand. The urns Sudden exhale a musky, vaporous tide, That softly glows, here green, there violet dyed; 'Neath the white veil upon her ebon hair Of clustered headdress. Lore above compare The incense god is whispering -- so her eyes declare. She breathes the perfume, while the zither's strings In rippled sweeps of fuller joyance swell, And her lithe arms in mazy willowings Are wound, and many a supple-woofed spell, Potent all thoughts of more than this to quell, Is echoed sinuous to her finger tips. Surely from some scent-heavy lotus-bell She comes to shroud the heart in sweet eclipse -- E'er with rapt mysterious smile upon her lips, She brings the magic of an Indian night Where smolder peacock-breasts of phosporgreen, Ruffled by jungle zephyrs ne'er so light, The while their eyed trains in myriad sheen Sway 'gainst the lacy-fretted marble screen, That, blanching 'neath the moon in splendor pale, Girdles some Ranee's odorous demesne, Glints through the haze a wreathed pearly pride, Where echoes oft the bowered nightingale, In rosy Haidarabad or Kashmir's storied vale. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BALLADE OF MYSELF AND MONSIEUR RABELAIS by LEONARD BACON (1887-1954) THE BALLADE OF THE GOLDEN HORN by LEONARD BACON (1887-1954) DEATH AND THE MONK by ARTHUR E. BAKER PASSIO XL MARTYRUM by ARTHUR E. BAKER THE LAST BALLADE; MASTER FRANCOIS VILLON LOQUITUR by THOMAS BEER WERE IT ONLY NOW by A. W. BELL AS FROM THE PAST -- by WILLIAM ROSE BENET THE LINE MEN by WILLIAM ROSE BENET |
|