The footprints in the snow (Sails 27)
Nov 2005
RT Crossing

anticipation - conversation
the room's abuzz with voice
except the stage
the silence there is a hush
of tensioned strings awaiting release
and ivory longing to be touched

and now the moment - enter stage right
our sanguine star strides in
to our applause
her willowy frame bends down
a bow - she's wound like a spiral spring
the real thing - at last! it's here and now

the world's her oyster and she's the Pearl
and all our world's her stage
it's been so long
so many months of practice
prep and pain culminate here, today
for us, yet not us - but all she is...

she turns - a measured, mitigated
walk: the softest wishes
of sky and earth
a quiet nearly deafens
'til alabaster meets ivory
and time itself stands still to listen