Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By William De LanceyEllwanger

1211 To Jessie’s Dancing Feet

HOW, as a spider’s web is spun

With subtle grace and art,

Do thy light footsteps, every one,

Cross and recross my heart!

Now here, now there, and to and fro,

Their winding mazes turn;

Thy fairy feet so lightly go

They seem the earth to spurn.

Yet every step leaves there behind

A something, in thy dance,

That serves to tangle up my mind

And all my soul entrance.

How, as the web the spiders spin

And wanton breezes blow,

Thy soft and filmy laces in

A swirl around thee flow!

The cobweb ’neath thy chin that ’s crossed

Remains demurely put,

While those are ever whirled and tossed

That show thy saucy foot;

That show the silver grayness of

Thy stockings’ silken sheen,

And mesh of snowy skirts above

The silver that is seen.

How, as the spider, from his web,

Dangles in light suspense,

Do thy sweet measures’ flow and ebb

Sway my enraptured sense!

Thy fluttering lace, thy dainty airs,

Thy every charming pose—

There are not more alluring snares

To bind me with than those.

Swing on! Sway on! With easy grace

Thy witching steps repeat!

The love I dare not—to thy face—

I offer at thy feet.