When we are very young

We dance, we sway

Instinctively

We watch others

But we swirl on our own

Letting the music take us and we take the music

 

In youth we dance in circles

Laughing

Alcohol, the sensuality, the joy consumes us

We stop only when the music stops

Anxious to jump up again after a quick swig

And an electric touch

 

A few years later

Responsibilities consume us

Dancing is for the frivolous

We dance when we must

At weddings or parties

Consumed by how we look

How we measure up

 

In middle age

Our defenses begin to come down

We move our feet to the music

We get up for a few

Smiling until we are out of breath

Joyous until our bodies grow weary

 

In old age

We sit more, dance less

We smile watching the young

Wistfully trading places in our minds

Our souls are lifted with the music

Our bodies weighted with age

 

In the end it is the music that pulls us

Out of our bodies and to the light

Weight gone, responsibilities relieved

We no longer care about how we look

We are our sensuality

Our joyousness

We dance into light

Casting out our judgements and limitations

We are the music

We are the dance