derekpoetrydump | (no subject)

can you feel me dancing

heroic is the man who can dance
with a rifle strapped to his back
heroic is the woman who can dance
with her child dying in her arms
heroic is the child who can dance
with the dogs of hunger snapping at his belly
the dance looks like trudging
and the obstacles are many
but we advance
oh yes we dance.

and damned are the stiff-backed
the stiff-lipped and the sitters
the 'i don't feel like dancing'
the 'i'm more of a singer's
and the quitters
and damned are those who let
their partners drop behind them
and damn are those who don't dance on the spot
while the slowest rush to find them
but rush on like runners
without a backward glance
we may be carrying warheads
but my god
we will dance.

perhaps you can only sway a little
it's enough, you understand
to nod your head or twitch your eyes
and if you can, to clap your hands;
spin your wheelchair, clear a space
the greatest dance is enthusiasm
persistence the only grace;
the only enemies are the watchers
the judgement from the stands
we will not break our pace and turn to face
the respect that they demand
just stir our bodies ever-on
to the place the sun commands:
you may kill us one by one
but by the devil
we will dance.

we don't all get back up
the tide recedes, the crowd proceeds
once again we find our feet
but each new disaster paves the world faster
with bones that grow as thick as reeds
our river beds are swollen with shoes
the wrists we couldn't grasp
their names are slipping away at last
we don't all get back up
but we dance.