Lola Ridge. The Fiddler. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

The Fiddler

By Lola Ridge


From “Chromatics” IN a little Hungarian café
Men and women are drinking
Yellow wine in tall goblets.

Through the milky haze of the smoke,
The fiddler, undersized, blond,	5
Leans to his violin
As to the breast of a woman.
Red hair kindles to fire
On the black of his coat-sleeve,
Where his white, thin hand	10
Trembles and dives,
Like a sliver of moonlight,
When wind has broken the water.