XX

I dance:

I exist in motion:

A wind-shaken flower spilling my drops in the sunlight.

I feel the muscles bending, relaxing beneath me;

I direct the rippling sweep of the lines of my body;

Its impact crashes through the thin walls of the atmosphere,

I dance.

About me whirls

The sombre hall, the gaudy stage, the harsh glare of the footlights,

And in the brains of thousands watching

Little flames leap quivering to the music of my effort.

I have danced:

I have expressed my soul

In unbroken rhythm,

Sorrow, and flame.

I am tired: I would be extinguished beneath your beating hands.