 | [Poems by Moody in] William Vaughn Moody : A Study by David Dodds Henry |  |
DANCE MUSIC
(The King's Dwarf speaks.)
Yes, I knew I need but beckon, though your silly bosom bled
That you had to leave off dancing, you would follow where I led,
That's what comes of telling secrets which might cost your dainty head.
That you had to leave off dancing, you would follow where I led,
That's what comes of telling secrets which might cost your dainty head.
Perish all their ball-room music! with its sudden shouts and calls,
With its trills like dryad's laughter, and its notes like bacchanals
Having round a mossy hillock where the wind god laughs and lolls:
With its trills like dryad's laughter, and its notes like bacchanals
Having round a mossy hillock where the wind god laughs and lolls:
For you needs must join the revel, and then presto! in a trice
They have changed to hags of witches, with hooked heads and greedy eyes,
Singing spells about a cauldron whence the fumes of hell arise!
They have changed to hags of witches, with hooked heads and greedy eyes,
Singing spells about a cauldron whence the fumes of hell arise!
Give your soul up to such music, let your spirit drift and dream,
You may fare a pretty journey: on you go where fawn's eyes gleam
Slyly through the dark grape bunches, on where hamadryads scream.
You may fare a pretty journey: on you go where fawn's eyes gleam
Slyly through the dark grape bunches, on where hamadryads scream.
Pelting river-gods with oak-balls, on where great white cities be
With their feet thrust in the ocean and their arms flung drowsily
Over hills that scarcely breathe for fear the dozers start and sigh:
With their feet thrust in the ocean and their arms flung drowsily
Over hills that scarcely breathe for fear the dozers start and sigh:
On you walk through stately gardens, palace porches, corridors,
Blazing halls as full of candles as the sky is full of stars,
And for every light a reveller who wears a mask that bars
Blazing halls as full of candles as the sky is full of stars,
And for every light a reveller who wears a mask that bars
All his forehead's ghastly meaning till some maiden masterful
Beckons to you, so you follow where the lamps burn blue and dull;
Then she turns and takes her mask off, and you see a grinning skull.
Beckons to you, so you follow where the lamps burn blue and dull;
Then she turns and takes her mask off, and you see a grinning skull.
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Brain-sick fancies, do you call them? Call them any name you dare,
Only hear that hautboy shouting, ‘What have we to do with care?’
‘Youth is ours and love and laughter: twine us roses for our hair!’
Only hear that hautboy shouting, ‘What have we to do with care?’
‘Youth is ours and love and laughter: twine us roses for our hair!’
‘Twine her roses, longing lover, for her hair is softer gold
‘Than the eyes of eastern idols in their stony sockets hold.’
But the anxious viol whispers, ‘Dwells a dragon on the wold;
‘Than the eyes of eastern idols in their stony sockets hold.’
But the anxious viol whispers, ‘Dwells a dragon on the wold;
‘Dwells a dragon by the forest; let thy love go never near,
‘Lest the sea-green lustful eye-balls and the twisting claw appear
‘Through the tree stems where she lingers, and thy love go mad with fear.
‘Lest the sea-green lustful eye-balls and the twisting claw appear
‘Through the tree stems where she lingers, and thy love go mad with fear.
‘Dwells a dragon by the castle; let thy love's glance never fall
‘Where the brazen gates lie open, lest she see the monster crawl
‘Through the courtyard to the portal of the very banquet hall.’
‘Where the brazen gates lie open, lest she see the monster crawl
‘Through the courtyard to the portal of the very banquet hall.’
Then the horn begins to question: ‘What has made her eyes so wild?
‘Did you kiss her warm as ever, and she never moved or smiled?
‘Dare you turn and face the horror, fold on scaly fold up-piled?’
‘Did you kiss her warm as ever, and she never moved or smiled?
‘Dare you turn and face the horror, fold on scaly fold up-piled?’
But you smile and tap your slipper to the tune the fiddlers play,
And you think it strange such music should seem anything but gay;
‘How the swift notes rush and sparkle, like a mountain brook,’ you say;
And you think it strange such music should seem anything but gay;
‘How the swift notes rush and sparkle, like a mountain brook,’ you say;
‘How they leap and laugh and tumble till that wildest plunge of all
‘Breaks them to a mist of silver that has hardly weight to fall,
‘To the tarn that sleeps far under, rimmed with cedars like a wall.’
‘Breaks them to a mist of silver that has hardly weight to fall,
‘To the tarn that sleeps far under, rimmed with cedars like a wall.’
But they fall at last!—yes, listen, did my senses play the fool?
Why did those slow ripples widen through the basin brown and cool?
I heard whispers when that drowned face stirred the surface of the pool
Why did those slow ripples widen through the basin brown and cool?
I heard whispers when that drowned face stirred the surface of the pool
‘But a wretched dwarf’ (your eyes hint) ‘gnarled and shrunk as mountain yew.’
‘Joys escape such?’—nay, I answer, had God made me fair like you
I could never dance to music as these dunces choose to do.
‘Joys escape such?’—nay, I answer, had God made me fair like you
I could never dance to music as these dunces choose to do.
'Tis too dreadful: that dim minor startled at the ball-room glare,
With its starved hands clutched convulsive in its tangled mass of hair,
Does it stand and wonder at them? I could vow I saw it there!
With its starved hands clutched convulsive in its tangled mass of hair,
Does it stand and wonder at them? I could vow I saw it there!
Saw it there? Saw twenty rather, wraiths of women such as trod
Measures blithe as those your fan beats, never knew the lips of God
Blew them warning in the flute notes—till they sank beneath the sod.
Measures blithe as those your fan beats, never knew the lips of God
Blew them warning in the flute notes—till they sank beneath the sod.
Now they know it: that's the reason why they plead so with their hands
As the dancers circle past them. See that faintest one who stands
By the wall and weeps her heart out that no dancer understands!
As the dancers circle past them. See that faintest one who stands
By the wall and weeps her heart out that no dancer understands!
| [Poems by Moody in] William Vaughn Moody : A Study by David Dodds Henry | |