If I when my wife is sleeping
and the baby and Kathleen
are sleeping
and the sun is a flame-white disc
in silken mists
above shining trees,--
if I in my north room
dance naked, grotesquely
before my mirror
waving my shirt round my head
and singing softly to myself:
"I am lonely, lonely.
I was born to be lonely,
I am best so!"
If I admire my arms, my face,
my shoulders, flanks, buttocks
again the yellow drawn shades,--

Who shall say I am not
the happy genius of my household?

c. 1917 Robert Zverina's "Danse Russe" as part of his picture of the day site.

Document URL: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/wcw-danse-russe.html
Last modified: Wednesday, 18-Jul-2007 16:29:15 EDT