Pierce Pettis Follow

To dance
A perspective of bones
A musical bath
Clearing a path of one’s own
Blue jeans and muscle or crinoline rustle
You learn it in class or alone
To dance

To dance
It’s a gravity thing
Shoes to the earth
Pulling toward a verse
That is beckoning
The dizzy effect of rhythm & sweat
Flying like a kid in a swing
To dance

Arms in a moment’s
Unworried connection
A telling of hearts
Where they don’t need protection
A journey in place
A private affection to share

To dance
Is swimming in time
Where passion in public
And prudence can somehow align
Moving like lovers
On top of the covers
And everyone knows it’s alright
To dance

Touch without touching ... love without grieving
Hold on and let go without anyone leaving
All of it part of the beat you’re receiving
And sending back out through your feet
In itself, it’s complete
And God it is sweet
To dance

To dance
The movement confides
Limbs in a language spoken in three
quarter time
Then is suddenly gone
At the end of the song
And you know you were safe all along
To dance, to dance...