(first Arabesque 1937) Poem by Jimmy O'Connell

(First Arabesque 1937)
Margot Fonteyn1919-1991

White cotton and silk in flow and muse,
A raven swan beauty gliding on the screen;
Her black eyes indwelling and demure,

A smile that graces and lithely dances;
She was one who had a need to be
Needed. A saint, then, and an artist?

Willing the one thing: a marriage of
Music and movement, her smile concealing
The longed for pain of all her knowing:

The coda in a pauper's grave is nothing
To our applause and fulfilment of dance.