The Dance After the War

 The Dance After the War

— An unfinished ballad of a soldier and a wandering dancer

I came back from the war
having won the battle, yet losing it all,
My gun was empty, cold and worn,
too tired to fire, too heavy to bear

And I was no longer the man of war
who once had marched without a care.
Then, at the corner of a nameless street,
beneath the trembling lantern-light,

She danced as though the earth were hers,
as though the moon had called her name,
Though many scars adorned her skin,
she whirled through sorrow just the same.

Her arms rose softly toward the sky,
her feet made music on the stone
She seemed both wounded, yet alive
a heart in ruins, dancing alone.

I wondered what her past had been,
what winter had her spirit known
What wound had kept her eyes awake,
when every other soul had gone?

Perhaps she too had fought a war,
though hers was fought where none could see
The man I was had left with dawn,
and I could never be the same.

Her every gesture seemed to hold
a chapter fate had left undone
For I have seen the battlefield,
and know how beautiful you are.
perhaps I shall lay down my gun
and ask what I was fighting for.

The night is young, the moon is high,
there are still shadows left to roam;
You have danced enough for both of us;
Tonight, beside you, I shall dance too.