Love

The Dance of Love

by Countee Cullen 1903–1946

From Color (1925)

Love

All night we danced upon our windy hill,
Your dress a cloud of tangled midnight hair,
And love was much too much for me to wear
My leaves; the killer roared above his kill,
But you danced on, and when some star would spill
Its red and white upon you whirling there,
I sensed a hidden beauty in the air;
Though you danced on, my heart and I stood still.

But suddenly a bit of morning crept
Along your trembling sides of ebony;
I saw the tears your tired limbs had wept,
And how your breasts heaved high, how languidly
Your dark arms moved; I drew you close to me;
We flung ourselves upon our hill and slept.

✦ ✦ ✦

After reading René Maran’s “Batouala”

MLA

Cullen, Countee. “The Dance of Love.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/cullen/17/.

Chicago

Cullen, Countee. “The Dance of Love.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/cullen/17/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

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