pondering
/
Dancer
Haloed by yellow light,
wrapped snug
in soft brown shadows,
she sits
in a warm tintype.
She spies
her more vibrant self
in the window's reflection.
A barefoot dancer
with ruby-red nails
on pink toes poised
to leap beyond
her wheelchair,
flushed legs vibrating
with muscle memory
as she strains
to music only she can hear.
She knows her strength,
once taken for granted
by a lanky-limbed woman
who twirled
under every blue sky,
who sang spirit into songs
older than her skin.
Those hands formed a life
stronger than her laced fingers
can whisper, a family now held
close to her laugh, held
like rainbow drops
in a cat's cradle.
The photographer, her son,
holds this moment
for her,
for us all,
as she sees one more thing
in that window, hears
one more song
she wants
to remember.
