Monday, September 13, 2010

Danse Russe

If I when my wife is sleeping
and the baby and Kathleen
are sleeping
and the sun is a flame-white disc
in silken mists
above shining trees,—
if I in my north room
dance naked, grotesquely
before my mirror
waving my shirt round my head
and singing softly to myself:
"I am lonely, lonely.
I was born to be lonely,
I am best so!"
If I admire my arms, my face,
my shoulders, flanks, buttocks
against the yellow drawn shades,—

Who shall say I am not
the happy genius of my household?


-- William Carlos Williams

5 comments:

Enbrethiliel said...

+JMJ+

Well, at least someone can see the glass as half-full!

"It's not loneliness! It's happy genius!"

Rodak said...

Yes. I like it. Thank you.

Pentimento said...

This poem always shocks me a little, and I love it.

Rodak said...

I like it alot, as a matter of fact.

Mac said...

The part in quotation marks passes through my mind at least once every few days.

However, I want to state for the record that I have never danced naked before a mirror [shudder] (or anywhere else, for that matter).