Dance

I look down
I look all around
I press my ear to the shaking ground
But shadows can dance without a sound.

Black leaves upon the earth
Green ones in the sky
The black ones flutter
Like birds in the air-
But the green ones are still.

I look down
I look all around
I press my ear to the shaking ground
But shadows can dance without a sound.

The solid blackness of buildings
The fluttering darkness of birds
Unaffected
And unadorned
And solidly intangible.

I look down
I look all around
I press my ear to the shaking ground
But shadows can dance without a sound.

Still as silence
Chaotic as life
But pure, pure-
In a way we
Could never be.

I look down
I look all around
I press my ear to the shaking ground
But shadows can dance without a sound.

The dancers and lights
Molding together on the floor
To create a mass of stillness.
Life isn't shadow-
It's color
And wonder
And noise.

So stop looking down
Don't look all around
There's so much to see beyond the ground
Because life can arrive without a sound.