"The Dancer"
They were godly people, all of them,
With whom I dined
in the café that night—
Substantial citizens
With their virtuous wives
And a stray daughter or two . . .
And when I spoke my admiration of your dancing,—
You, the little half-clothed painted cabaret performer
Who was pirouetting before us,—
I received a curious answer.—
It was only as the absurd voicing
Of a preposterous fancy
That one of the virtuous wives said to me—
"Why don't you go over and dance with her your-
self!"
[ . . . ]
Arthur Davison Ficke's poem "The Dancer" was published in the 1916 Others anthology. To read this poem in full in a digitized version of this publication, follow the link(s) below: