Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


DANCERS by SCUDDER MIDDLETON

First Line: HIS HIGH-FLUNG NOOSE HAD FALLEN
Last Line: AND THE LEAN WOLVES PAIR.
Subject(s): ATLANTIS; DANCING & DANCERS; MYTHOLOGY - CLASSICAL;

His high-flung noose had fallen
And the star had not been caught,
Still the unobtainable
Danced upon the air,
Mocking his omnipotence.
From his castle in the world,
He was always gazing there --
Past the white tides of the sky
Where the lost Atlantis floats,
And the days and nights are furled,
And the comets ply. . .

O poor earth with dancers, too,
More grotesquely gay
Than his deathless star --
Not so very far
His noose was flung for you!
Row on row your dancers swung,
Stepping on the air
Where the acorn-monsters writhe,
And the rooks keep out the sun,
And the lean wolves pair.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net