VAUDEVILLE
Whento a cheap and tawdry tune the orchestra cried out,Frantic, in violent syncopation, and beganYour holy, adorable body in mournful grace to move aboutThrough the old, devious motions, the device ofman—How suddenly then, silent magnificence, you put to shameThe crowded and garish theatre, the strangled criesOf flute and trumpet! O mortal body, bearer of our flameThrough the drear lands of death, flower of the eternities!Revered, reviled, wept and adored, beseeched, cried out uponBy ravening lips of the ages—the sacred source of things,That glimmered in Thrace, that shone in Rome, that swayed in Babylon,Here moves to the vile throb of castanets and strings.O through what generations have you lured, what secret ways,Man’s fainting heart to be reborn! What splendors moveDeep in his breast when, dolorous, your reluctant beauty swaysIn the old weary rhythms of eternal love!
Whento a cheap and tawdry tune the orchestra cried out,Frantic, in violent syncopation, and beganYour holy, adorable body in mournful grace to move aboutThrough the old, devious motions, the device ofman—How suddenly then, silent magnificence, you put to shameThe crowded and garish theatre, the strangled criesOf flute and trumpet! O mortal body, bearer of our flameThrough the drear lands of death, flower of the eternities!Revered, reviled, wept and adored, beseeched, cried out uponBy ravening lips of the ages—the sacred source of things,That glimmered in Thrace, that shone in Rome, that swayed in Babylon,Here moves to the vile throb of castanets and strings.O through what generations have you lured, what secret ways,Man’s fainting heart to be reborn! What splendors moveDeep in his breast when, dolorous, your reluctant beauty swaysIn the old weary rhythms of eternal love!
Whento a cheap and tawdry tune the orchestra cried out,Frantic, in violent syncopation, and beganYour holy, adorable body in mournful grace to move aboutThrough the old, devious motions, the device ofman—
Whento a cheap and tawdry tune the orchestra cried out,
Frantic, in violent syncopation, and began
Your holy, adorable body in mournful grace to move about
Through the old, devious motions, the device ofman—
How suddenly then, silent magnificence, you put to shameThe crowded and garish theatre, the strangled criesOf flute and trumpet! O mortal body, bearer of our flameThrough the drear lands of death, flower of the eternities!
How suddenly then, silent magnificence, you put to shame
The crowded and garish theatre, the strangled cries
Of flute and trumpet! O mortal body, bearer of our flame
Through the drear lands of death, flower of the eternities!
Revered, reviled, wept and adored, beseeched, cried out uponBy ravening lips of the ages—the sacred source of things,That glimmered in Thrace, that shone in Rome, that swayed in Babylon,Here moves to the vile throb of castanets and strings.
Revered, reviled, wept and adored, beseeched, cried out upon
By ravening lips of the ages—the sacred source of things,
That glimmered in Thrace, that shone in Rome, that swayed in Babylon,
Here moves to the vile throb of castanets and strings.
O through what generations have you lured, what secret ways,Man’s fainting heart to be reborn! What splendors moveDeep in his breast when, dolorous, your reluctant beauty swaysIn the old weary rhythms of eternal love!
O through what generations have you lured, what secret ways,
Man’s fainting heart to be reborn! What splendors move
Deep in his breast when, dolorous, your reluctant beauty sways
In the old weary rhythms of eternal love!