Growing up, I wrote poetry long before I wrote prose. I don’t do it so much any more, but every now and then something happening in the world at large, or at small, inspires me to write a poem. This one came because of the tentative joy I felt when I became a full citizen of my country – when marriage for people like me convincingly became part of our emotional vocabulary. For the first time in our lives.

Waltz of the Souls

Standing opposites

in this great

Great Room,

trembling 

for one another’s

hand. 

Glances bounce,

heads bow,

hearts

rise and fall.

Smiles guarded,

rise and fall.

Polished shoes,

twisting.

Will he who

dare move

suffer the spurn?

Or will both

be engulfed, 

lifted onto the floor

to revel

ecstatic 

in this madness?

Are we?

Are we?  

Worthy

of this 

grand promenade? 

As all the world

dances round.

Rise and fall,

rise and fall.

Laughing, loving, living.

Still.

We.

Hesitate.

One two three, 

one two three.

Anxious, stubborn. 

Will neither

bow

to a force 

stronger

than both?

But suddenly, 

simply,

like a step

in this waltz,

I love you!

escapes

and expands

this great room.

And though

no touch,

no taste,

no scent

penetrates

this fine tune,

those words

stir 

these hearts.

And our souls

have gone dancing!

M

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