Al Que Quiere!/Canthara

by William Carlos Williams

 

CANTHARA

The old black-man showed me
how he had been shocked
in his youth
by six women, dancing
a set-dance, stark naked below
the skirts raised round
their breasts:
⁠bellies flung forward
knees flying!
⁠—while
his gestures, against the
tiled wall of the dingy bath-room,
swished with ecstasy to
the familiar music of his old emotion.