Let’s Dance

And when the earth shall claim your limbs,
then shall you truly dance
to joy of heavenly hymns,
flying unfettered with nary a glance

at body’s prison. Legs spellbound
with shame no longer, free to be flung wide.
Feet once rooted in piety’s frozen ground
now bared, toes curled, to warm fireside.

But why wait for death to find release
from breathless pursuit of fortune and fame?
Nothing can hold us when we cease
to move by the rules of another’s game.

Mortality’s mark is already upon our body
so dance now with fervor, and a little bawdy.

 

Note: The first two lines of this poem (italicized above) are the final line of the poem “Death” by Khalil Gibran.

 

©2023 Kenneth W. Arthur