..
Dance, when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you’re perfectly free.” ― Rumi
.
Dance when the only sound is sigh
-lence, when the violence in the streets
has us bleating for peace. When the or
-igin of our skin is unknown, and we’re
origami’d into something other than what
we’re meant to be.
Dance even though your feet are aching
and time and space and continuum are
all taking their tolls. Dance when the rolls
of fat flap and the trombones trap the sound
in vociferous horns. Dance when you’ve sworn
you can move no more.
Dance when you’re broken. Open the wound
and slide about barefoot in its crimson flow.
Welcome the scar. Dance when the stars bid
you goodnight and when you’re all out of fight
and in that moment when you’re sucking life
through that camel’s last damn straw.
Dance off into the sunset, naked or clad in rain,
glad for the insane beat of your heart’s own
violet drums. Dance until the saltiest tears
come and tomorrow is uncertain and the
ebony curtain of the sky threatens to close
its glorious stage.
Give rage a chance, a page, a last glance on
its way out of your veins as you bid it cha-cha
-ciao. Don’t ask how, or follow those fake
footsteps on the floor. Just dance. Shed your
shivered armor and invent a partner or go it alone.
Dance your way home.
Show your feet how to laugh on their own, even
when your face must close. Shake your threaded
limbs and stretch them to the sun. Dance for the
One who made you and displayed you and gave
you breath and depth and song. Know He’s been
watching, waiting all along.
..
Written for OctPoWriMo, day 17.
Whimsygizmo's Blog 
Inspiring. Loved it. 🙂
That last stanza is a beaut. This is a gorgeous write, De.
show your feet how to dance on their own – what an inspired thought!
Shall we dance?
Wow! Loved all the rhyming and echoing of words you do within each line and among lines! Love all the ways you find to name the positives and the negatives, dancing through each one with an external or internal smile. I had to laugh-groan at this one:
“in that moment when you’re sucking life
through that camel’s last damn straw.”
Thank you!
amazing thoughts…love the open mind.
Absolute perfection. This is the best poem // of my life, entire. Thank you.
I agree with ocean bones. I love that camel straw line. This reminds me of my middle child – when she was around that age where she could NOT walk around a pool I would tell her to tell her legs to walk, because she was so active and they were so out of control – they had a mind of their own. And it was so funny to watch her remember. But yes, we need to teach our legs and let them go… no matter what is going on inside our heads!