Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.

Jenny’s Dancing

Joseph Warren Beach

WHEN Jenny danced with Janet,

I saw two silver birches swaying

To a breeze that left the hillside quiet,

Save for these white stems

It singled out

To set them tossing.

I saw two flames,

Two slim and volatile

Twin flames wind-blown,

That wound and wound

Their delicate bodies

To a tune no ear could follow …

And then came Rupert—

Hapless male!—

And he took Jenny.

He could not follow the tune—

The breeze passed by him;

And as he could not bend himself,

He broke her.