Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.
Dancing Adairs
By Conrad Aiken
B
Flitting out of the shadow into the spotlight,
And into the shadow again, without a whisper!—
Firefly’s my name, I am evanescent.
But I follow you as remorselessly as darkness,
And shut you in and enclose you, at last, and always,
Till you are lost, as a voice is lost in silence.
Are you the one who would close so cool about me?
My fire sheds into and through you and beyond you:
How can your fingers hold me? I am elusive.
Yes, you are flame; but I surround and love you,
Always extend beyond you, cool, eternal,
To take you into my heart’s great void of silence.
O sweet and soothing end for a life of whirling!
Now I am still, whose life was mazed with motion.
Now I sink into you, for love of sleep.