If You Die Before Me

If you die before me I would jump down into your grave and hug you so innocently that angels will become jealous. I shall kiss you. So intimately shall I kiss you that your breath becomes mine. In one breath of love shall we merge into hugs of true joy.

Dream Variations

To fling my arms wide In some place of the sun, To whirl and to dance Till the white day is done. Then rest at cool evening Beneath a tall tree While night comes on gently, Dark like me- That is my dream!

Everybody Is Doing It

In Hawaii they Hula They Tango in Argentina They Reggae in Jamaica And they Rumba down in Cuba, In Trinidad and Tobago They do the Calypso And in Spain the Spanish They really do Flamenco. In the Punjab they Bhangra

Juke Box Love Song

I could take the Harlem night and wrap around you, Take the neon lights and make a crown, Take the Lenox Avenue busses, Taxis, subways, And for your love song tone their rumble down. Take Harlem's heartbeat, Make a drumbeat, Put it on a record, let it whirl, And while we listen to it play,

The Secret Sits

We dance round in a ring and suppose, But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.

Dance Me To The End Of Love

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin Dance me through the panic 'til I'm gathered safely in Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove Dance me to the end of love Dance me to the end of love

Colored Toys

When I bring to you colored toys, my child, I understand why there is such a play of colors on clouds, on water, and why flowers are painted in tints - -when I give colored toys to you, my child. When I sing to make you dance I truly now why there is music in leaves, and why waves send their chorus of voices to the heart of the listening earth - -when I sing to make you dance.

A Brown Girl Dead

With two white roses on her breasts, White candles at head and feet, Dark Madonna of the grave she rests; Lord Death has found her sweet. Her mother pawned her wedding ring To lay her out in white; She'd be so proud she'd dance and sing to see herself tonight.

Poems Without Readers

Nostalgia

Remember the 1340's? We were doing a dance called the Catapult. You always wore brown, the color craze of the decade, and I was draped in one of those capes that were popular, the ones with unicorns and pomegranates in needlework. Everyone would pause for beer and onions in the afternoon, and at night we would play a game called 'Find the Cow.' Everything was hand-lettered then, not like today. Where has the summer of 1572 gone? Brocade and sonnet marathons were the rage. We used to dress up in the flags

Marriage

Then Almitra spoke again and said, 'And what of Marriage, master? ' And he answered saying: You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days. Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

Rhythm Of Africa!

Dance, dance! With the muse of Africa; Tap, tap! With the rhythm of Africa; Moving your body and, Moving your steps; To the sounds and cultures of the various tribes in Africa. Dance, dance! To the rhythm of Africa; Tap, tap!

Love One Another

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. But let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.

But In The Wine-Presses The Human Grapes Sing Not Nor Dance

But in the Wine-presses the human grapes sing not nor dance: They howl and writhe in shoals of torment, in fierce flames consuming, In chains of iron and in dungeons circled with ceaseless fires, In pits and dens and shades of death, in shapes of torment and woe: The plates and screws and racks and saws and cords and fires and cisterns The cruel joys of Luvah's Daughters, lacerating with knives And whips their victims, and the deadly sport of Luvah's Sons. They dance around the dying and they drink the howl and groan,

Amongst The Roses

I walked through a Forest, beneath the hot noon, On Etheline calling and calling! One said: "She will hear you and come to you soon, When the coolness, my brother, is falling." But I whispered: "O Darling, I falter with pain! " And the thirsty leaves rustled, and hissed for the rain, Where a wayfarer halted and slept on the plain; And dreamt of a garden of Roses! Of a cool sweet place, And a nestling face

The Baby's Dance

Dance little baby, dance up high, Never mind baby, mother is by; Crow and caper, caper and crow, There little baby, there you go; Up to the ceiling, down to the ground, Backwards and forwards, round and round; Dance little baby, and mother shall sing, With the merry coral, ding, ding, ding.

Poets Dance

Poets Dance in the heart of rhythms Discussion spoken in the pen Energy being tampered with in the music Limitations rarely occur in audio-silence Artist writes from the heart of rhythms The Poets are dancing Flaming hot ink drips from the pen The paper it's a sacrificial victim It just seems to lay still there's no escape when the Poets Dance

The Chimney Sweeper: A Little Black Thing Among The Snow

A little black thing among the snow, Crying 'weep! 'weep! ' in notes of woe! 'Where are thy father and mother? say? ' 'They are both gone up to the church to pray. Because I was happy upon the heath, And smil'd among the winter's snow, They clothed me in the clothes of death, And taught me to sing the notes of woe.

Natural Celebration

The flowers bloom all days and nights long Spread sense enchanting sweet perfumes, The butterflies fly on their colorful wings And sit on the petals to suck secretions; The birds chirp, jump, dance, sing sweet songs And fly for fruits, insects and some worms To eat and to feed their cute youngs Which wait making big gap opening in mouths;

Human Knowledge

Since thou readest in her what thou thyself hast there written, And, to gladden the eye, placest her wonders in groups;-- Since o'er her boundless expanses thy cords to extend thou art able, Thou dost think that thy mind wonderful Nature can grasp. Thus the astronomer draws his figures over the heavens, So that he may with more ease traverse the infinite space, Knitting together e'en suns that by Sirius-distance are parted, Making them join in the swan and in the horns of the bull. But because the firmament shows him its glorious surface, Can he the spheres' mystic dance therefore decipher aright?