Shall We Dance? Poem by Krista TaltsNassehi

SHALL WE DANCE?

I asked you when you were a child.
I spun you in the air,
I spun you in the river,
I misted you onto meadows
but another pulled you back
and you laughed and ran from me.

I asked you to dance when you were a young girl.
You looked into my eyes, and
still you scorned me and rushed
to dance elsewhere with elsewhoms.

Shall we dance? I asked you when you were a woman.
No! You said and laughed,
kicked up your heels and
jumped without a glance
backward into the arms
of my nemesis, Life.

Life surrounded you with children, and taunted me.
But I was not yet done with you.

I chose some you loved,
burned their images
into your heart but still
you would not dance with me.

Dismayed, almost (but not quite)
I took some loved one hostage,
unleashed my fearsome dance,
a mother here, a father there
and then a lover, another and
another still your blood was
thumping my name.

Now, shall we?
dance?
I am patient. You will
rush into my arms as
all the others have and
beg me: please

Please dance with me!