After a long night of drinking, laughter, and song in Soho, the speaker and his friends wander the empty streets before dawn. The excitement has faded; all that remains is the morning star. Then someone plays “La Paloma” on a guitar from a darkened window, and the melody pulls him sharply out of London. He sees a Harlem dance hall and a Cuban girl named Diory in a red shoulder sash. She is dancing with another man, but she leans near the wall and glances at him, proud and alive. The memory is intimate and bittersweet. The speaker longs for that moment and for her. The mood is wistful and dreamlike, showing how a familiar song can collapse time and distance, making a lost love feel suddenly close.
La Paloma in London — Summary
About Soho we went before the light; We went, unresting six, craving new fun, New scenes, new raptures, for the fevered night Of rollicking laughter, drink and song, was done. The vault was void, but for the dawn’s great star That shed upon our path its silver flame, When La Paloma on a low guitar Abruptly from a darkened casement came-- Harlem! All else shut out, I saw the hall, And you in your red shoulder sash come dancing With Val against me languid by the wall, Your burning coffee-colored eyes keen glancing Aslant at mine, proud in your golden glory! I loved you, Cuban girl, fond sweet Diory.