Through the murmurous room a stillness glanced: Pannyra of the golden heels stepped forth. She danced. A veil of many folds concealed her quite. With a long silver trill the flutes invite Her first; she flits to the center and salaams, Then with the slow movement of her moulding arms Lends a weird rhythm to the stuff that wells And widens undulant, and hollows, and swells Till it swirls at the close like a storm in the sky ... And Pannyra is flower, and flame, and butterfly! All eyes ecstatic hold; no watchers stir. And the fury of the dance flares forth in her. She whirls forever, faster, faster still! The golden torch-flames wave in the wind's will! Of a sudden she stops in the center of the hall, And the spiral, suspended, begins to fall And, clinging to her firm breasts and her glossy thewed Thighs, as through a silken water's fall, In a divine flash, shows Pannyra nude. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: WIDOW MCFARLANE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS A BIT OF SKY by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON JOY (2) by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON SEPULCHRE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON SLEEPLESS NIGHT by SARA TEASDALE |