Classic Poem

AFTER Seeing H ER D ANCE : " F RAGRANCE "

White —
As the dawn on white roses,
Bright —
As sunlight on your rope of roses;
As a feather tossed in the quick of the wind,
As a crystal figure swept by a rainbow rain.
Dancer of silver shadows,
You are all youth and freshness,
Like a sharp spear against ivy,
Like a bow pulled to quivering,
Like an arrow rushed from a shaking bow.
Your aims are gestures of a morning earth,
The arc of your leaping legs a shout of loveliness,
Your movements the shining silence of the on-coming sun.
You dance in the dawn,
You dance over green lawns in a leaf-rhythm,
Weaving patterns with your rope of roses,
Printing a white, fleeting pattern of yourself,
Of your bright body against sudden, startled green.