She whirls!

the ballerina,

alight & thin
as a bird’s

song
disrobed from

its sound.
The ballerina,

she twirls

the air
around

her fingers

in ribbons
of ivory where,

as they unfurl

into the eyes
like budding flowers,

the heart

blossoms & scars.
She leaps!

the ballerina, alight
with the trickle

of candlelight
spinning down her hair

onto her thighs

where
my breath lingers

& flies.
En pointe,

the ballerina,

ravishes the air
from my thoat,

& on the wooden

expanse, she briefly floats

and then
vanishes.
The ballerina,

Dega’s danseuse

alight & thin
as a bird’s

song
disrobed from

its sound.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

___________________

Painting : DEGAS, “La danseuse étoile”.