Rainbows (Custance)/A Dancing Girl
A Dancing Girl
Dark daughter of a dancing raceHow do you weave your secret spells?Song cannot show with what strange graceYou lightly lift your frock of laceSewn thick with little silver bells.
You hold us with your haunting eyes,And in your hair so soft and longOur souls are snared; yet we are wise,We know you through your dark disguiseYou are a witch-girl weird and strong.
A pagan creature, with the graceOf the lost childhood of the world, And in your pale fantastic face,And in your smile we seem to trace,The fairy with its bright wings furled.
A water nymph you may have beenWith heavy lilies in your hair,Or mermaid swinging in the greenDeep sea, or dryad stretched unseenAmong frail leaves and blossoms fair.
Now, from a lighted stage you glanceSmiling, oh, Sorceress unknown,And we who watch you in a tranceEnchanted by your mystic danceForget how sad the world has grown.