The Dancer

I WILL not dance :
I say I will not dance.
Your audience, pah, let them go home again,
Sleek, ugly pigs.     Am I to hop and prance
     As long as they will pay,
     And posture for their eyes, and lay
My womanhood before them?     Let them drain
Their porter pots and snuffle — I'll not stay.

For he is dead :
I tell you he is dead.
My God, did you not hear me say it
Twice already?     I held his groaning head
     In these remembering arms,
     And cursed the charms
That could not stop his going.     Must I bay it
Like a dog to you?     Quit your alarms!

They shout and stamp?
Then, let them shout and stamp,
Those booted hogs and lechers — I'm away
To sit beside my dead.     O God, you tramp
     Upon me too, and twine
     More sorrows round me than are mine
With holy unconcern. . .     Don't bar my way,
I'm going to my dead . . .     Ah-h-h, stamping swine !.

Insurrections [1909]