A lone dancer whirls on moonlit rocks while a sad, earnest man sits apart on a white stone. Her tarantella is partly mockery—aimed at his seriousness and his “world’s old wisdom”—because she feels full of the night, the tide, and the moon. The sea and moonlight seem alive to her, but the man cannot feel that wildness. The mood is ecstatic and lonely at once: she dances alone, wishing for a “wild sea-fellow,” some soulless water-spirit with waves in his arms who could match her desire to lose herself completely. By the end, the longing turns toward sensual, almost dangerous release—to be “gone in a lost soul’s bliss,” beyond thought or responsibility, into the cold, fiery embrace of the sea.
Tarantella — Summary
Sad as he sits on the white sea-stone And the suave sea chuckles, and turns to the moon, And the moon significant smiles at the cliffs and the boulders. He sits like a shade by the flood alone While I dance a tarantella on the rocks, and the croon Of my mockery mocks at him over the waves' bright shoulders.
What can I do but dance alone, Dance to the sliding sea and the moon, For the moon on my breast and the air on my limbs and the foam on my feet? For surely this earnest man has none Of the night in his soul, and none of the tune Of the waters within him; only the world's old wisdom to bleat.
I wish a wild sea-fellow would come down the glittering shingle, A soulless neckar, with winking seas in his eyes And falling waves in his arms, and the lost soul's kiss On his lips: I long to be soulless, I tingle To touch the sea in the last surprise Of fiery coldness, to be gone in a lost soul's bliss.