Redoing The Hokey-Cokey

A version of the hokey-cokey filtered through the pen of a well-known writer

Nothing is so dear and deft as dance — When, in a ring, folk flock and fleetly fling First left arms to the fore, then back they bring These lively limbs, reforming at a glance A seemly circle ere they all advance Thrice more to shake and shimmy in the ring, And chanting, child-like, ‘in-out, in-out’, sing, While to and fro in wild delight they prance. What is all this fling and all this flair? A ritual romp, a friendly frolic, free From clinging cloud and cloy, concern and care, Whose crowning ‘ra-ra-ra’ in gladsome glee And raucous rapture rises like a prayer To holy Him, the fount of ecstasy.

Gerard Manley Hopkins