Listen to an audio performance
You’ve been doing this all your life
And you’re still not very good at it
No matter how much effort you put into it
You drag your partner down
And now you’re almost the worst of the worst
A stain on the competition
The judges judge
And you stand there meekly
While inside indignation arises
The mean one
The encouraging one
The condescending one
The loving one
But the end result is the same
Down you go
The public judges
The apathetic ones
The sympathetic ones
The apoplectic ones
The ones with the blood of former dancers on their hands
You tremble and your heart thumps in your chest
But the end result is the same
Down you go
Down you go into a gladiatorial battle
And having done your best you await the verdict
The pretty music fades to be replaced with drums
Mimicking your heartbeat
Mocking you
You must wait until that long pause is over
Then you learn your fate
The lights go out above you
The heartbeat stops
You collapse to the floor in slow motion
You open your mouth but can emit no scream
And there you lay
Wide eyed and shocked
Your life flashes before your eyes
And a new judge walks onto the stage
He bends down with concern
Compassion lightens his features
He places his hand on your forehead and whispers
You feel a strange peace
He touches your lips with his
And gently blows a reviving spirit into your lungs
He tells you to get up and walk
With tears in your eyes you comply
Slowly and thankfully
You bow towards him
You have been reprieved
And now you dance a different dance
To a different tune
Piped by the lord of the dance
And you breathe more easily
No comments:
Post a Comment