One day I started dancing
If you can call this dancing.
And when the robin sang it’s fill,
It sat upon on a window sill.
If you can call this dancing.
I continue still.
At first it was my heart that beat
It shook my bones, made light my feet
And in a moment, overcome
To let it out, to free the drum
The sun just so,
The sky just so,
And so
And so
I let it out.
I danced and twirled and shook it about,
All up and down and round and round
All through the hills, all through town
Next it was just three or four more
Who kicked their boots that shook the floor
The sun had set
Their work was done
And in a moment, overcome
To let it out, to free the humdrum
The moon just so,
The wine just so
And so
And so
They let it out
They danced and twirled and whirled about.
Across the bridge and through the square
And up and down the crystal stair
When we had danced all day, all night
With sweet dreams of Mary Ann in sight
Thought I should stop and take a rest
Take off my shoes and dancing vest
But then just then a fog set in
And from the fog a pointy chin
And from the chin a devil’s head
And from the head a silhouette
It tapped it’s foot
It clapped it’s hands
It shook it’s hips and then it said
We may never go to bed,
No,
We may never stop our feet
No,
We may never not keep the beat.
Then my ankles turned to glass
I feel them start to shatter
The pain just so
On blistered toes
And so
And so
On swollen feet our broken bones
No longer fit inside the skin
That we no longer control
Five then ten then twenty-eight
Before too long the whole town’s fate
To do the twist,
To shake it like this,
Across the bridge and through the square
And up and down the crystal stair
With broken limb on bloody stump
The moon had sang it’s fill.
It beamed upon a window sill.
It was unison singing for freedom
Broken by the devil
And so
And so
One poem deserves company
There was such hope
Pleasure
A chorus
Stolen
The robins song
Least the dance was a curse
The form broken
Defiant of the rules and laws
A lie
And so
And so
A madness of song and dance
Thought never to be broken
So careful and complex
Tiny stars
Motions of the master
Hope of and broken lover
Smash the cast and glass slippers
Not to dance forever
The promise broken
I pause
Remember my course
Hate bleeds my vein
A course of curse
The carousel
And song madness
Broken by the shadow
The devil’s curse
A canary of light
Mended limbs
Free of mind
And odyssey thought
cured
No music
Just sound
If you can call this dancing,
We continue still
credit: MRB
edit: TTB
