Adagio

Being by nature a slow person,
I found comfort in the thoughtful tempo,
ample time to complete each move correctly,
to feel positions unfolding in smooth increments,
extending into phrases deliberately, deliciously.

At this pace, I could go all the way without losing my way,
even while standing on one foot.
I might become a vessel moving as though
filled with elusive ichor—transformed
into some other person beyond place or time,

perhaps Wolfe’s Orlando
in a room of his own before he became a woman,
a manuscript sprinkled with sand
and the sun slanting over the fields
with all the world a perfect gold

and on my best day, I was.