Leap (Poetry)

I dreamed last night I was a ballerina
waiting in the wings of some great stage
when all at once the music swelled and bore me
out into space — spun high upon its wave

thus round and round I twirled, the tension building
the breath within my body held so tight
and every muscle strained ’til I was flying
towards an opal moon that beckoned bright.

I found my feet possessed, my mind ecstatic
performing to a symphony that flowed
right through my blood — pulse pounding to distraction
as though in step with some genetic code.

I dreamed a different life trained as a dancer —
experienced both beauty and the pain —
I fear despite that aching for perfection
I’ll never feel such ecstasy again —

that leap from out the shadows to the spotlight
heart-stopping like the way the spirit soars —
the sigh that greets the final curtain falling
before the far-off thunder of applause.