Behold me, in my chiffon, gauze, and tinsel, <br />Flitting out of the shadow into the spotlight, <br />And into the shadow again, without a whisper!- <br />Firefly's my name, I am evanescent. <br /> <br />Firefly's your name. You are evanescent. <br />But I follow you as remorselessly as darkness, <br />And shut you in and enclose you, at last, and always, <br />Till you are lost,-as a voice is lost in silence. <br /> <br />Till I am lost, as a voice is lost in silence. . . <br />Are you the one who would close so cool about me? <br />My fire sheds into and through you and beyond you: <br />How can your fingers hold me? I am elusive. <br /> <br />How can my fingers hold you? You are elusive? <br />Yes, you are flame, but I surround and love you, <br />Always extend beyond you, cool, eternal, <br />To take you into my heart's great void of silence. <br /> <br />You shut me into your heart's great void of silence. . . <br />O sweet and soothing end for a life of whirling! <br />Now I am still, whose life was mazed with motion. <br />Now I sink into you, for love of sleep.<br /><br />Conrad Potter Aiken<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dancing-adairs/
