SQUARE DANCE

Allemande left! On your right hand
Swing your partner under, stand,
Wait for the fiddle — the Devil's own chord —
Heaven and Hell will split the reward:
Couples fall back and Lazarus fo'w'rd.

Do-si-do and face your winsome
Peace of mind for a few seconds long would
Be all I'd pray for, choose your handsome
Brief reprieve from a love gone wrong would
Be all I'd need, now promenade along.

Gentlemen, turn to the left and bow, and
Never be bereft, never covered with a shroud, and
Still stand still, stand stepping with the throng;

Face your fear, and turning from despair —
In for a penny, Ladies, in for a dollar —
The heart beats hard, beats listening to the air
And the called forever moving toward the caller.

A CONCERT AT THE PORT

Of bow and stern — the bow,
Of a violin — the bow,
The eye of Horus on prow,
The eye of pearl held low.

The bridge of stem to stern,
The bridge of a violin,
Where traverses begin
And pivot to return.

The lighter the load, the tenderer the wherry;
The faster the tremolo, the more the rowers crave
To capture the depths that sound in bows and waves;

Then galley masters beat with bars and staves,
And lifted for the downstroke, taut and wary,
Let sweep their dominant triads down and carry
All before them, arcs in a maelstrom serried
Sever the air, oh trireme and guarneri.