Waltz

Grand gestures swelled
when the music began
in generous three-quarter time,

a meter for large sweeps
across the small room, each measure
taking the whole body,

each motif a theme of flight.
Steps surged with the flood of tides
and longing, the buoyant momentum.

After the daily adagio,
sedate and precise,
the waltz was a revel.

Then I took my weak knees away
before the petit allegro,
changed into street clothes
with the splendor still under my skin.