Langston Hughes, "Danse Africaine" (1926)
The slow beating of the tom-toms,
Low .... slow
Slow ... low
Stirs your blood.
Dance!
A night-veiled girl
Whirls softly into a
Circle of light.
Whirls softly ... slowly,
Like a wisp of smoke around the fire--
And the tom-toms beat,
And the tom-toms beat,
And the low beating of the tom-toms
Stirs your blood.
Published in The Weary Blues (1926)