Veils folded 'round her as she spun and
her image struck deep into my soul.
As she lifted dew-tipped wings,
I rose lightly upward with her,
poised on her outstretched arms.
I took flight with each undulation
of her shoulders, swelling and cresting,
and, as her body rolled and turned with the drumming,
below I saw the hills and valleys of the earth
and the mighty waves of the mother oceans.
Like a beam of sunlight, the single column of her long hair
touched the floor, cloud-white veils
spinning as she danced.
I gazed, once more from my sodden shell
as she, with joy and courage
unfolded the living tale of centuries.
Within her rocking hips and fluttering sides
she carried whispers of those
borne forever
on the wind, the scores of lives
whose legacy is in one and all.
Through her the dance emerged
from powers universal, the way
that birth comes
and death passes.
I breathed and sighed and I wept with joy.
(Copyright 1996 Karen Sutherland)
IDD Dancezine is electronically published by International Dance Discovery, Donna Carlton, Editor. All rights reserved.