before an empty audience

A Poem by Prescilla

i havent danced in so long... and i wish i could show people. it would be so much easier.

i am craving the stage, but i seem to melt before i reach the curtains.

i have done this so many times.

i have torn out my heart so many times.

why is it different now?

i look out at the empty seets looming in the darkness.
my heart stops.

i feel two hands on my hips, pushing me forward.
"this is where you are meant to be" someone says from the wings.
i look over and see a face i did not expect.

why is it him?

why is it someone i hardly know, who i so desperately want to see me dance?

do i really think i still have that charm?

do i still have that power over people?

that power to move them without them moving.

as i turn and rise and fall and jump and breathe and break and pick myself back up,
people are crying tears down their faces, hearts lifting, falling and jumping with me.
do i still have that ability to make someone see all that there is of me?

and why do i choose him?

a person who is so separate from me.

i do not expect anything from him.

and still, its him pushing me out into the person i used to be.

pushing me out onto the stage, telling me it will be ok.

i still feel so rusted.

i still feel so unseen and shadowed.

there is a dim blue light on my face. i can feel the heat of the moment.

the light, the openness, the vulnerability.

i know i am at home.