Why Do I Dance?

I dance because I have to

My body, my lungs, my liver would surely collapse upon themselves

wither and die if I did not

I dance because it is my prayer

My lamentation

My Savior

My temple

My religion

I dance because it feeds my soul and heals my wounds

It bathes me in unassuming comfort

It is my source of solace

An embrace when I so desperately needed it

It is my laughter and my ecstasy

My oxygen and my purpose

I dance so that I no longer have to walk alone

on this joyous, agonizing, wrenching, wonderful journey of life

I dance to wash away my former confines

I dance to step outside my skin, to shed my former restraints

To wipe my slate clean as freshly laundered linen

I dance because all the children of God dance

I dance because it frees me

It releases me

And just for a moment I am here

Fully inhabiting this body

It is my glimmer of hope, the radiance beckoning in tomorrow

It is the face of God, cast upon my own

It is my connection with the Divine

I dance because it silences my doubt

It drowns out the naysayers

It lets me close my eyes at night

I dance because there is this burning in my body, deep within the marrow, buried at the source

There is a snake coiled around my spine, humming with the vibration and I cannot ignore it

It is stronger than I am

I must let it out

I dance because it is my tears, drummed out over the echo of my pain, loss and regret

It is the visual manifestation of my words unspoken

You may be able to silence my voice

But you cannot silence the beating of my heart

I dance because I have to

Photo Credit: "Expansion" sculpture by Paige Bradley