She only Came to Dance

by Ian Tallach

I’m not saying it was
unnecessary
-just that when I heard
the music in her head

I noticed something wonderful

There was an elegance
about her movements
when we dragged her
down the corridor

-a kind of effortlessness

Arms jacketed behind
her like a rudder
gently weathering
the storm, responding

to another rhythm

She smiled; the tempest
would not give her leave
to ponder terrifying
heights of ecstasy

or times of bottomlessness

Do you remember when,
just for a laugh, she burst
into the meeting room
to ask – Is this the dance?!

The joke became her

I’m not saying it would
have worked out differently
or that we could have
stopped it happening

-just that we should have