| Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917. |
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| 3. Dancing Adairs |
| | | By Conrad Aiken |
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| BEHOLD me, in my chiffon, gauze and tinsel, | |
| Flitting out of the shadow into the spotlight, | |
| And into the shadow again, without a whisper!— | |
| Firefly’s my name, I am evanescent. | |
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| Firefly’s your name. You are evanescent. | 5 |
| 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. | |
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| Till I am lost, as a voice is lost in silence…. | |
| Are you the one who would close so cool about me? | 10 |
| My fire sheds into and through you and beyond you: | |
| How can your fingers hold me? I am elusive. | |
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| How can my fingers hold you? You are elusive? | |
| Yes, you are flame; but I surround and love you, | |
| Always extend beyond you, cool, eternal, | 15 |
| To take you into my heart’s great void of silence. | |
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| You shut me into your 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. | 20 |
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