| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22. | | | | Barn Dance | | By Malcolm Cowley |
| | From “Three Portraits”
HE had been happy thinking she might love him, | |
| And whistled at his plowing all the day; | |
| But now, while dancers stamped and scraped above him, | |
| On the barn floor, he lay below in silence | |
| Among the cattle on a pile of hay. | 5 |
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| He had dressed quickly when his work was over, | |
| And watched the guests stroll towards him up the lane; | |
| But she came smiling with another lover: | |
| Hurt and ashamed, he stole off from the dancers, | |
| Like a whipped dog, to blubber out his pain. | 10 |
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| He breathed more calmly, hearing the insistence | |
| Of horses munching fodder; and he grew | |
| Indifferent to the fiddles in the distance, | |
| To womankind and to his disappointment, | |
| Down here among the cattle that he knew. | 15 | | | |
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