The Dancers

                          The Dancers            [Adapted from Neknus, Canto XXIV]                               And so        The dancers enter to display their thrilling art.        In they come, these splendid charmers,              (Twenty males and females all              With nature’s graces unadorned),        Each more finely formed than anyone        Assembled there had ever seen,               Or […]

                          The Dancers

           [Adapted from Neknus, Canto XXIV]

 

                            And so

       The dancers enter to display their thrilling art.

       In they come, these splendid charmers,

             (Twenty males and females all

             With nature’s graces unadorned),

       Each more finely formed than anyone

       Assembled there had ever seen,

              Or ever would again!.

 

        And their dance begins

With a miracle of whirling, twisting, leaping,

                  Handsome

       Bodies in the candlelight

       – The tremulous candlelight –

Bright eyes flashing, dark hair tossing,

Gleaming naked muscles pulsing

       In an ecstasy of passion,

       In a poem of smooth movements

Vibrant with the energy of life;

        In the candlelight,

The flickering, trembling candlelight.

 

                 Lithe limbs flowing,

         Swaying, gliding, fascinating

                  The silent throng as

         This way and that they dance,

                           Singly

                   Or together in twos,

                   In threes, in groups;

Airy as spirits, delicate as deer, posing

And positioning in never-constant patterns

                   Beautiful to see,

With gestures combining as fluently

As human artistry can possibly achieve

                   In perfect unison

                   With the music’s

       Mood and with themselves;

                    In the candlelight,

       The fluttering, dancing candlelight.

 

        Their talented performance

                   Scales new heights

At its crescendent finale and then –

                    Suddenly –

Their dancing done, their panting

Naked bodies shining as perspiration

Runs in glittering, shimmering rivulets

        Across their pulsing skins –

They stand before their audience

Receiving  the applause their art has earned

                     In the candlelight,

The quivering, fluctuant candlelight.

Author: J. A. Bosworth

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