Thursday, June 21, 2012

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

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