This Downward Dance

And then there was this downward dance
That we did until we found ourselves
Face down on the ground
Laughing at jokes
We couldn't remember

But we so enjoyed
This ridiculous music
The off-key melody
The wrong pitch
The bad timing

We held hands
Palm to sweaty palm
Nervous about stepping on toes
Nervous about counting wrong
Nervous about leading when we weren't supposed to lead
Nervous about all sorts of things
We weren't supposed
To be nervous about
And yet the ground shook
From being underneath
Our shaking bodies

We try to help each other
By whispering the steps
To each other

But the music eats up our whispers
And so all that's left to do
Is to let out a gentle scream

Inferences are made
Based on the way someone holds you
When they dance with you

About the way
Someone responds to music

In the way
Eye contact is made

But we were too busy
To infer anything

We were preoccupied
With our downward dance

Our slow clumsy stumble
Towards a perfect circle
Of grace and poise

And at one point we reached it
The zenith of class

A lovely 1-2-3
Followed by this and that

We were so proud of ourselves
We didn't even hear the bells chime
Meaning the clock had struck twelve
Meaning we were released

From our noble activity

And when we stopped
When we finally stopped

Long after the music had done

We looked around
And saw nothing
But an empty ballroom
And a stage
Where the band used to be

And that was when we laughed

Because we were alone

Because it finally felt safe
To enjoy
What had been done