A Dance of Perspectives

To be Loved

“Dance for me,” I begged.

I’ll place these eggshells under your feet,

Crown you in jewels too heavy to keep.

I’ll spin you around and around

Until gravity is not gravity,

But a compass

Guiding you into my arms.

Once you’re there,

I’ll sing you a song

Too loud to hear anything else beyond.

But don’t worry,

No one will you need or want or see

I’ll blind you with love as surely as you’ve infatuated me.

Once I tire of the honest look in your eyes,

Once I wish to escape the trail of your smile,

Once I’m hungover from the drunken, stupid love you’ve chosen to feel,

You can stop dancing.

I’ll stop feeling.

And that’s good enough for me.

Maybe I’ll have to dodge your calls,

Maybe the next time our eyes meet,

I’ll offer no recollection at all,

But it was fun, right?

Was this not fun for you?

Well, don’t be bitter.

I never said I loved you.

Crazy woman,

Making up promises

I would never dare to keep.

Stop crying.

Stop calling.

You embarrass yourself.

Your affections are of value when I decide that myself.

To Love

“Dance for me,” you begged.

So I twirled and dipped,

Swayed my hips,

Tossed my head back without a care,

And when I looked up,

You weren’t even there to see it.

Short and sweet

Turned into curt and cruel

So quickly I didn’t notice.

How could someone I love

Leave me so very, thoroughly broken?

I gathered the pieces of myself

Redesigned them all on my own,

And when I did,

I built a house of stone.

Though this house I've built is drafty,

Though it's haunted by your ghost

It's the best one I've ever owned

And it comes with a little studio,

In which I am finally free to dance

To the beat of my own drum.